BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team is set to host the Louisiana-Lafayette Rajun’ Cajuns on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in an in-state battle at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“UL-Lafayette is a very dangerous team,” explained LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They are going to beat some very good teams this season, and we are going to have to play our best tennis tomorrow to make sure that we are not one of them.”
The LSU tennis team enters Tuesday’s match with an overall record of 4-1.
The Tigers have recorded wins against Southern (7-0), Centenary (7-0), Southeastern (7-0), and UL-Monroe (7-0). LSU’s lone defeat came in its most recent contest, a 4-3 heartbreaker at the hands of sixth-ranked Texas A&M. The match marked the Tigers’ first-road competition of the season.
UL-Lafayette heads into the dual-match contest with a 3-3 overall record and a three-match losing streak. The Rajun’ Cajuns dropped their previous-three matches to Michigan State, Michigan, and the Rice Owls. In its most-recent match, the UL-Lafayette tennis team was edged out by the Owls in a 4-3 decision at home.
The Tigers will be led in Tuesday’s match by seventh-ranked Ajay Ramaswami and 69th-ranked Jessie Smatt. Ramaswami, LSU’s senior leader, has compiled a 16-7 overall record this season, and has accumulated seven wins versus ranked opponents. Ramaswami looks to add another win to his total as he is scheduled to face UL-Lafayette’s 87th-ranked Jason Pieters.
LSU’s Smatt, a junior from Cooper City, Fla., has been victorious in his last four-singles matches and possesses a 14-6 record this season. In his previous outing, he outlasted Texas A&M’s Keith From in a three-set slugfest, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
UL-Lafayette’s head coach Brett Schwarts is familiar with both the LSU tennis program and Coach Brown. Schwarts graduated from LSU in 1984 and was a tennis letter-winner his senior year. He was Coach Brown’s assistant coach in 1997-98 and earned the ITA Region III Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 1998.
“Brett and I have known each other for a very long time,” Brown said. “We are still really good friends and I know that he is an outstanding tennis coach. He is going to have his team ready to play tomorrow and our guys are going to have to be ready as well.”
The 14th-ranked LSU tennis team will host the Louisiana-Lafayette Rajun’ Cajuns on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the W.T “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.