ATHENS, Ga. — Six members of the 13th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will begin their fall seasons on Friday, as the Tigers compete in the Southern Collegiate Classic being held at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
“All of the players that we have going this weekend are either freshmen or sophomores,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “I believe that this is going to be an invaluable learning experience for them, and it is going to be vital for them to go and play against the high talent level of this tournament.”
Competing in the tournament for the Tigers will be sophomores Bryan Fisher, Brandon Nicholson, Sebastian Rutka and Sanjin Sadovich, as well as freshmen Jason Hazley and Peter Richman. Hazley and Richman, LSU’s prized members of the 2001 recruiting class, will each compete as a Tiger for the first time on Friday. Hazley joins LSU from Bradenton, Fla., while Richman is a native of Toronto, Canada.
The Southern Collegiate Classic is a four-day event which features four flights of singles play and three doubles flights, with action beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. More than 200 players from more than 40 schools will be participating in the tournament, including competitors from 11 of the 12 Southeastern Conference schools. Alabama is the lone SEC school not entering the tournament.
“We’re looking forward to getting back out on the court,” Brown said. “Our players are all very eager to start the season and to compete again.”
In Friday’s doubles competition, the Tigers have two teams in the Division A draw and one pair in the Division B tournament.
The combinations of Richman/Rutka and Fisher/Hazley each earned a first-round bye in the Division A flight. Richman/Rutka will face the winner of Neal/Prybys from UNC-Asheville and Martinez/Vargas of Troy State, while Fisher/Hazley await the triumphant pair between Murray State’s Aracil/Hoyem and the combination of Liumic/Mardbrink from Campbell.
In the Division B doubles flight, LSU’s combination of Nicholson/Sadovich is scheduled to face Tennessee-Chattanooga’s pair of Dickerson/Hangstefer.
The singles brackets and pairings will not be finalized until early Friday morning.
The Tigers will begin competition in the Southern Collegiate Classic at 7 a.m. (Central time) here at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.