BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team moved up one spot in the Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings for the second-consecutive week on Wednesday, as the Tigers improved to the become the 15th-ranked team in the nation.
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 top-ranked Illinois last week. 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 30.
Georgia, the defending national champion, led the SEC in the rankings by notching the second-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 15th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will next be in action on Friday, March 1, as the Tigers open up SEC play on the road against the Alabama Crimson Tide at 2 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
Feb. 27, 2002
Ranking Points
1. Illinois (8-1) (8) 600
2. Georgia (5-1) 592
3. Stanford (7-1) 583
4. Southern California (9-2) 578
5. UCLA (11-1) 570
6. Mississippi (5-1) 562
7. Notre Dame (11-3) 550
8. Baylor (7-0) 545
T9. Kentucky (7-2) 530
T9. Pepperdine (9-2) 530
11. California (6-2) 518
12. Tennessee (6-2) 511
13. Mississippi State (6-2) 508
14. Texas (9-0) 499
15. LSU (3-1) 488
16. Washington (11-0) 479
17. Ohio State (7-2) 467
18. Auburn (5-1) 455
19. Duke (1-6) 453
20. Indiana St. (4-4) 441
21. Middle Tennessee St. (7-0) 439
22. Alabama (7-2) 431
23. Arkansas (7-0) 418
24. Texas A&M (6-2) 404
25. Minnesota (4-2) 394