BATON ROUGE — The 16th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team is prepared for Sunday’s Southeastern Conference battle with the seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at noon in the W.T. “Dub”Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“This match against Georgia is going to be another typical SEC slugfest,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Georgia is without a doubt one of the most talented teams in the nation. They have six-ranked singles players on their team, and the LSU and Georgia tennis programs are year-in and year-out the toughest-two teams in the SEC.”
LSU heads into Sunday’s match-up looking to extend its four-match winning streak on the season. The Tigers enter the dual match against Georgia with an overall record of 9-2 and a 3-1 mark against SEC opponents. LSU has recorded conference wins over Vanderbilt (6-1), Arkansas (4-3) and Kentucky on the season. On Friday, the Tigers edged Kentucky, 4-3, in the final-singles match of the contest.
The Bulldogs come into Baton Rouge with an overall record of 11-1 on the season. Georgia has compiled a 3-0 SEC record and is in the midst of an eight-match winning streak. The Bulldogs’ lone loss of the season came at the hands of sixth-ranked Washington on the road in the ITA Team Indoor Championships. Washington upended Georgia by a score of 4-3, in the opening round of the competition.
LSU trails the Bulldogs 32-18 in the all-time series between the two schools. Last season, the Tigers suffered a 6-0 defeat versus Georgia on the road in Athens, Ga. The match was LSU’s final regular-season contest of the year and the loss dropped the Tigers to an 18-4 overall record. In 1999, LSU defeated the Bulldogs twice on its way to the final four. The Tigers recorded identical 4-3 wins over Georgia in both the regular season and the SEC tournament.
“LSU and Georgia is a huge rivalry and it has been for quite some time now,” Brown said. “Tomorrow’s match is going to be another chapter in our rivalry and it is definitely going to be a war.”
Georgia boasts the services of six-nationally ranked singles players as well as the No. 2 doubles tandem in the nation comprised of Matias Boeker and Travis Parrott. All six of the Bulldogs’ singles players are among the nation’s top-60 players and Bo Hodge and Boeker are No. 3 and No. 7 in the nation, respectively. Georgia’s singles lineup also includes No. 17 Lesley Joseph, No. 34 Brandon Wagner, No. 47 Parrott and 60th-ranked Chad Carlson.
The LSU men’s tennis team claims the 11th and 82nd-ranked singles players in the nation, as well as the country’s 41st-ranked doubles team. The Tigers’ No. 1 singles player, Ajay Ramaswami is currently No. 11, while Jesse Smatt owns the 82nd-ranked spot. Combined with freshman Sanjin Sadovich in doubles play, Smatt, has led the pair to an undefeated-dual record as well as the nation’s 41st-ranked honor.
The 16th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will host the seventh-ranked Georgia Bulldogs at noon in the opening match of a double-header on Sunday at the “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. The 25th-ranked LSU women’s tennis team will close out Sunday’s double dip immediately following the men’s match, as the Lady Tigers face the 15th-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols. Admission is free to each of the matches and the LSU tennis department will provide deli sandwiches for the fans.