LAFAYETTE, La. — Four members of the LSU men’s tennis team will compete in opening-round action of the 2001 Cingular Wireless Collegiate Tennis Classic on Friday, as the Tigers continue their fall season at the Cajun Courts on the campus of Louisiana-Lafayette.
“This is going to be a good opportunity for us to see how much the guys learned from their experience in Athens (Ga.) a couple of weeks ago,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “It will be good to see what improvements they’ve made in their game and what adjustments they were able to make.”
The 2001 Cingular Classic is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and the three-day event includes top players from UL-Lafayette, Lamar, UL-Monroe, LSU, New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Miss, Texas-Arlington, Tulane and Wake Forest.
LSU’s four players competing in the event are sophomores Bryan Fisher and Brandon Nicholson, as well as freshmen Jason Hazley and Peter Richman. This will be the second tournament of the fall season for the Tigers’ talented underclassmen. They all played in the Southern Collegiate Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Center in Athens, Ga., on Sept. 21-24.
Fisher and Hazley will each begin their quest for the singles championship title in the top half of the Flight A singles draw on Friday. Fisher, who owns a 1-2 fall record, challenges Southeastern’s Paul Birkett, while Hazley at 1-1 takes on Edgar Gonzales from Lamar.
“This will be a good test for us to see how hard our guys compete,” Brown said. “That is the main thing that we’re worried about because it shows how they will react in a dual match. I’d rather have a less-talented player who competes, than a talented player who doesn’t know how to compete.”
Nicholson, LSU’s surprising talent from New Iberia, La., knows how to compete. After a disappointing loss in the opening round of the Southern Collegiate Championship, the redshirt sophomore reeled off four-straight wins to earn the consolation round championship title. He will face UNO’s Sebastian Lacatelli in Friday’s first-round action.
The Tigers’ Richman will also compete in the bottom half of the Flight I singles draw. The freshman is scheduled to play Wake Forest’s Derrick Spice. Richman is 2-1 in fall competition this season.
The 2001 Cingular Wireless Collegiate Tennis Classic will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday at the Cajun Courts in Lafayette, La.