BATON ROUGE — Senior LSU men’s tennis players, Dan Kiernan and Jesse Smatt, highlighted the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s preseason rankings on Monday, as they were each listed among the nation’s top 75 players.
“These two seniors have worked very hard during the offseason and have put themselves in a position to lead our team,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They are going to lead us this season, not only off the court, but on the court as potential All-American candidates.”
Kiernan, the Tigers’ top player from Newcastle, England, earned the No. 29 ranking on Monday, while Smatt will begin the 2001-02 season as the 72nd-ranked singles player in the nation. Last season, Kiernan and Smatt combined to win 47 singles matches and led the Tigers to the Sweet 16 for the fourth-straight year.
Both seniors became members of the exclusive 20-20 club last season by winning 20 matches in both singles and doubles play. Kiernan finished the 2001 season as the 51st-ranked singles player in the nation.
He accumulated a 25-9 record in singles and a 30-8 mark in doubles competition.
As the emotional leader of the Tiger tennis team, Smatt recorded the best season of his collegiate career in 2001. The native of Cooper City, Fla., ended with a 22-15 singles record and a 20-9 mark in doubles competition.
He defeated Texas’ Jose Zarhi, 7-6(4), 6-2, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to clinch the Tigers’ 4-2 victory over the Longhorns. The win helped LSU advance to its fourth-straight Sweet 16.
“Hopefully these guys can use this preseason ranking to motivate themselves to reach even higher levels in both the individual and team rankings this season,” Brown said.
In the doubles rankings also released on Monday, the Tigers boast the fifth-ranked tandem in the nation. The combination of Kiernan and sophomore Sebastian Rutka jumped 24 spots in the offseason to claim the top-5 ranking. Last season, the pair finished with an overall record of 22-6 and as the 29th-ranked team in the nation.
“Sebastian (Rutka) and Dan (Kiernan) played great together last season,” said Brown. “Therefore they are deserving of this respect and hopefully they will be able to continue climbing in the rankings.”
Seven members of the 13th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will begin the 2001 fall season on Friday, as the Tigers head to Athens, Ga., for the Southern Collegiate Classic.
Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
Preseason Doubles Top 10
1. Ryan Moore/Nick Rainey, Southern California
2. Scott Lipsky/David Martin, Stanford
3. Sebastian Graeff/Stefan Suter, Pepperdine
4. Carlos Lozano/Gert Vilms, BYU
5. Daniel Kiernan/Sebastian Rutka, LSU
6. Christian Thall/Konstantine Zinchanka, South Alabama
7. Oliver Foreman/Robert Gustafsson, Middle Tennessee
8. Roger Anderson/David Wright, Georgia Tech
9. Mitchell Bowen/Matt Klinger, Arizona State
10. Phil King/Alex Yani, Duke