BATON ROUGE — After opening its dual-match season with a perfect 3-0 record for the 16th-straight season, the LSU men’s tennis team was ranked No. 17 in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings on Wednesday.
“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. 17 is a good place for us right now,” 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 16, 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.”
LSU currently owns an undefeated 3-0 record on the season after the Tigers defeated both Centenary and Southern in an opening-season doubleheader, then dropped New Mexico, 5-2, on Sunday. The LSU men’s tennis team downed Centenary by a score of 7-0 and then pounded Southern, 6-0.
The Tigers finished the 2000-01 season as the 13th-ranked team in the country after they accumulated a 16-8 dual-match record and defeated 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 Wednesday’s Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings as all 12 of the conference’s teams were ranked among the nation’s top 32.
Georgia, the defending national champion, led the SEC in the rankings by notching the third-place position, as Ole Miss came in at No. 7 and Kentucky rounded out the top 10 with the No. 10 ranking.
“We have a very tough road ahead of us,” Brown said. “The SEC is once again extremely strong this season, and eight of our scheduled 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 faces one of its toughest matches of the season this week, as the Tigers head to Champaign, Ill., for a non-conference battle against the second-ranked Illinois Illini on Saturday. Illinois garnered the No. 2 ranking in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings after finishing as the runner-up at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
Feb. 13, 2002
Ranking Points
1 Stanford (6-0) 600
2 Illinois (5-1) 592
3 Georgia (5-1) 584
4 Southern California (6-2) 570
5 UCLA (7-1) 569
6 Mississippi (5-1) 565
7 Notre Dame (7-3) 542
8 Baylor (4-0) 536
9 Pepperdine (6-2) 528
10 Kentucky (7-2) 514
11 Tennessee (5-2) 507
12 Texas A&M (4-0) 504
13 Mississippi State (4-2) 492
14 Duke (1-5) 488
15 Minnesota (4-0) 485
16 Texas (6-0) 477
17 LSU (3-0) 464
18 California (3-2) 458
19 SMU (2-4) 455
20 TCU (1-1) 441
21 Auburn (2-0) 430
22 Ohio State (5-2) 423
23 Washington (5-0) 414
24 Indiana St. (3-3) 407
25 Georgia Tech (4-1) 404