BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team moved up one spot in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings on Wednesday, as the Tigers improved to the become the 16th-ranked team in the nation.
“We moved up in the rankings because we played the No. 2 team in the nation tough this past week,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “I think that we are gaining some respect from the voters because of that match, and we have to continue to improve by getting some big wins over the ranked teams in our conference.”
LSU currently owns a 3-1 record on the season after the Tigers opened with wins at home over Centenary, Southern and New Mexico before falling to second-ranked Illinois on Saturday. In front of a raucous crowd, LSU competed very strongly against Illinois and fell in a close-fought match, 5-2.
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 33.
Georgia, the defending national champion, led the SEC in the rankings by notching the third-place position, while Ole Miss came in as the No. 6 team and Kentucky rounded out the top 10 with a No. 9 ranking.
The 16th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will next be in action on Tuesday, Feb. 26, as the Tigers host the Louisiana-Monroe Indians at 2 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
Feb. 20, 2002
Ranking Points
1. Stanford (7-0) (8) 600
2. Illinois (6-1) 592
3. Georgia (5-1) 584
4. Southern California (7-2) 575
5. UCLA (9-1) 569
6. Mississippi (5-1) 560
7. Notre Dame (9-3) 549
8. Baylor (5-0) 545
9. Kentucky (7-2) 529
10. Pepperdine (7-2) 524
11. Tennessee (5-2) 514
12. Mississippi State (5-2) 512
13. Texas (7-0) 502
14. Texas A&M (5-1) 499
15. Duke (1-5) 474
16. LSU (3-1) 464
17. California (4-2) 455
18. Washington (8-0) 453
19. Ohio State (5-2) 452
20. SMU (3-4) 448
21. Auburn (3-1) 429
22. Indiana St. (3-4) 428
23. Georgia Tech (4-1) 413
24. Alabama (5-2) 412
25. Middle Tennessee St. (6-0) 403