COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The 14th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team is prepared to do battle on Saturday as they face the No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies at 1:30 p.m. in College Station, Texas. The 21st-ranked LSU women’s team will also clash with Texas A&M in a dual match, as the Lady Tigers simultaneously take on the Lady Aggies at the Varsity Tennis Courts.
“This match is going to give us a better perspective on how we stand this season,” said LSU head men’s coach Jeff Brown. “Texas A&M is a talented team and is the toughest competition that we have faced this season, and it will also be good to see how the team handles playing on the road in a tough environment.”
The Tiger tennis team heads into Saturday’s match with a 4-0 overall record after posting identical 7-0 wins over Southern, Centenary, Southeastern, and UL-Monroe. LSU has not played on the road yet this season.
Last year, the Tigers accumulated a 3-2 road mark in dual-match contests. Texas A&M comes into the competition with a 4-1 record, but the Aggie tennis team dropped its most recent match to 17th-ranked Texas by the score of 4-2 at a neutral site in Houston, Texas.
The LSU women’s tennis team also possesses a 4-0 dual-match record this season. The Lady Tigers have recorded home wins over Centenary (7-0), West Florida (7-0), Southern (6-0), and UL-Monroe (6-1). LSU will be challenged in its opening road match by a 2-0 Texas A&M team. The Lady Aggies have breezed through matches against Stephen F. Austin (7-0) and Texas-San Antonio (7-0).
“It’s always difficult to go on the road and knock off a tough team,” said LSU head women’s coach Tony Minnis. “But it is even harder at Texas A&M. There is always a large, raucous crowd there when we play, and the Aggies have become a huge rival for us over the past couple of years, and there is nothing that we would want more than to come back home with a win.”
Each of LSU’s tennis teams were victorious last season versus the Aggies. The men handily defeated Texas A&M, 5-2, at home in the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium, while the Lady Tigers were forced to sweep all three doubles matches in a 5-4 comeback win.
The Aggies enjoy a 15-13 all-time record against the Tigers and in the previous dual match between the two teams in College Station, Texas, the A&M Aggies soundly defeated LSU, 6-1. The Lady Aggies were also victorious in the 1999 season, as they notched a close, 5-4, win versus the Lady Tigers. The all-time record between the women’s programs is knotted at 11 wins apiece.