BATON ROUGE — After reaching the NCAA Championships for the seventh-straight season in 2001, the LSU men’s tennis team opens its 2002 dual-match campaign as the 15th-ranked team in the nation on Tuesday according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
“Well, we’re not ready to be the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, and we’re not No. 30, so I guess that being No. 15 is a good place for us to start,” said LSU’s fifth-year head coach Jeff Brown. “In order to be a No. 1 seed in your region you have to finish in the top 15, and in order to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament you have to be in the top 12, so I think we’re in a good position to achieve those goals.”
The Tigers finished the 2000-01 season as the 13th-ranked team in the country after accumulating a 16-8 dual-match record and defeating both Marist and Texas to advance to the NCAA Championships. The LSU men’s tennis team has reached the Sweet 16 in 17 of the last 18 seasons.
The Southeastern Conference dominated Tuesday’s Intercollegiate Association Rankings as eight of the SEC’s 12 teams were ranked in the nation’s top 25.
Georgia, the defending national champion, earned all 40 of the first-place votes and led Stanford, UCLA, Tennessee and Ole Miss in the top 5.
Mississippi State came in ranked No. 14, while Auburn was No. 20, Alabama was No. 23 and Kentucky earned the No. 25 spot in the national poll.
“We have a very tough road ahead of us,” Brown said. “The SEC is once again extremely strong this season, and 10 of our opponents are ranked in the top 25. Despite facing tough competition week in and week out, I think that playing a rather difficult schedule will help us in the long run this year.”
LSU is scheduled to play sixth-ranked Illinois on the road in Champaign, Ill., and 13th-ranked Texas A&M at home this season in its non-conference schedule. The Tigers fell to Texas A&M, 4-2, in the third round of the NCAA Championships last season.
The 15th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will begin play in its spring season on Thursday, Jan. 17, as the Tigers head to the SEC Indoor Championships.
Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
School Votes
1 Georgia (40 1st-place votes) 1875
2 Stanford 1838
3 UCLA 1830
4 Tennessee 1806
5 Mississippi 1755
6 Illinois 1736
7 Notre Dame 1647
8 Pepperdine 1645
9 SMU 1614
10 Duke 1573
11 California 1570
12 Southern California 1560
13 Texas A&M 1552
14 Mississippi State 1526
15 LSU 1517
16 Baylor 1507
17 South Alabama 1494
18 Miami (Fla.) 1474
19 TCU 1450
20 Auburn 1431
21 Texas 1421
22 Washington 1408
23 Alabama 1379
24 Ohio State 1369
25 Kentucky 1345
26 Georgia Tech 1224
27 Indiana State 1174
28 Arkansas 1170
29 South Carolina 1157
30 Vanderbilt 1138