BATON ROUGE — The 21st-ranked LSU men’s tennis team returns to Southeastern Conference action on Saturday as it faces No. 22 Alabama at 1 p.m. at Varsity Courts in Tuscaloosa.
LSU (12-6, 5-4 SEC) enters the battle on a two-match skid after losing to South Carolina and SMU earlier this week. The Crimson Tide (15-5, 3-4) has won three straight, all on the road, heading into the match.
“Alabama is one of those surprise teams in the SEC this year,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They have some big wins over Ole Miss and Florida. We will have to play our best as always because the road in the SEC is a tough place to get a win.”
Senior Ajay Ramaswami and junior Dan Kiernan will lead the Tigers into the contest as they are ranked No. 15 and No. 60, respectively, in the latest Wingspanbank.com College Tennis Rankings which were released Friday.
Ramaswami is 23-13 overall this year while playing the No. 1 singles spots and owns eight wins over ranked opponents. Kiernan, who is ranked 25th in doubles with freshman Sebastian Rutka, is 15-3 in dual matches this season.
Alabama counters with sophomore Maxim Belski, who is ranked No. 39 in the nation.
This will be the 50th meeting all-time between the two schools. LSU currently has a 30-18-1 advantage over the Crimson Tide in the series. Last season, LSU blanked Alabama, 7-0, in Baton Rouge.