BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team is set to begin the 2003 dual-match season with five returning starters and a strong recruiting class that is being added to an experienced squad that qualified for its eighth-consecutive NCAA Tournament a year ago.
In this segment, LSU head coach Jeff Brown reveals his thoughts on various questions ranging from last year’s team to the 2003 Southeastern Conference and about playing what is possibly the nation’s toughest schedule.
On last year’s team and how they came one match shy of the Sweet 16 despite being so young
“The team that we had last year had to overcome a lot of adversity from the beginning because one of the players that we were depending on for depth, Sanjin Sadovich, turned pro in January and that was a blow to our team. Contrary to some belief, one player can make a major difference in a match that’s 4-3, but the guys that did stick it out were able to achieve quite a few of our goals.”
“We weren’t ranked as high as we have liked to have been, but we were able to get into the NCAA Tournament and advance past a strong TCU team. We also had a shot at beating Texas A&M to advance to the final 16, but since we didn’t host, it was a tough task going in to Texas A&M and playing them on their home courts.”
“Everyone that did stay the course, I was very proud of them and the experience and the school of hard knocks that we went through will pay off for us in the future.”
On Dan Kiernan and his contribution to the program over the past four years
“Daniel, having experienced the two SEC Championships early in his career, always had that as a level that he wanted to get back to and he became a leader in trying to get us back to that point. He really became the vocal leader of the team both on and off the court.”
“He led by example and actually at certain times people thought that he was overmatched in a lot of matches, but he always found a way to come out on top. He was a very tenacious competitor. He was very vocal and in a lot of matches and he would turn the tide on a more talented player through his passion for the both the game and LSU.”
On the experience returning from last season’s squad
“That’s what this team is going to be about. We’re solid from top to bottom and we’ve had a couple of people emerge from the pack a bit. Sebastian Rutka has added some maturity and experience to his game that goes along with his talent and his speed. He is definitely one of the fastest, if not the fastest, players in the nation, so as he’s gained experience he’s going to be able to hopefully help lead us along with Jason Hazley.”
“Jason has also gained great experience last season as he and Peter Richman had to play near the top of the lineup. They did a great job and the experience that they gained will pay off. The depth of our team goes all the way down to Cory Ross who transferred to our team in January last year and struggled a bit with getting used to things, but he put in a great summer and has come back as one of our leaders.”
“He won a tournament in the fall and we also have Paul White and Brandon Nicholson who are both Louisiana kids that will play strong for their school and compete to their fullest extent. Bryan Fisher is a quiet leader, but he does everything that you ask him to do and all of them are great students in the classroom.”
On the challenges and benefits of playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules
“One of the things that the NCAA looks at when they determine the field for the NCAA Tournament is a team’s strength of schedule and it actually cancels out your won-loss record, so in tennis your record is really not as important as it is in other sports where you have to have a winning record to get into the tournament. That’s not the case for us, so it pays off more for us to have a strong strength of schedule than it does to have a strong won-loss record.”
“With that in mind, we are able to schedule not only the SEC, which is the strongest conference in the nation, but we also have Texas, Illinois, Texas A&M and SMU, and it is possibly the toughest schedule in the nation. I think that it helps us at the end because our team is used to playing those types of matches day-in and day-out, so when it comes time for the NCAA it’s not like we have to go into a situation that we haven’t been in before. We’ve already played some of the best in the nation and hopefully we’ve beaten some of them. The more you play, the better chance you of have of beating them we hope.”
“That’s kind of our idea and I think that last year it helped us against TCU by playing the conference schedule that we did and by playing so many tough matches. Although we didn’t have the kind of success that we’d hoped for during the regular season, once we got to the NCAA Tournament we were able to pull off a win against TCU possibly because they hadn’t played the kind of regular-season schedule that we had.”
On where he sees his team in the SEC this season
“I think that we could be anywhere this season, to be honest with you. The conference is so tough, top to bottom, that if a couple more of our players emerge along with Sebastian, Jason and Peter, then who knows what we can do. There isn’t really a team in the SEC this season that is really that dominant or a clear-cut No. 1. I could put a team at No. 1 or I could put them at No. 12 in most cases.”
“There are some teams that have some good depth returning and they should be good, but there hasn’t really been a team that has been able to stay at the top of this conference for more than two years at a time.”
“It’s been the type of conference where some of the teams at the top have really just rotated around and both Tennessee and Georgia lost a good number of their seniors from a year ago and they were kind of the dominant teams for a couple of years. Before that, we were kind of the dominant team with some of our older players and now there are the Mississippi State’s and the Misssissippi’s and the Florida’s coming up, so hopefully we’re in that rotation.”
“This conference is going to be extremely tough from the top all the way to the bottom. There is not going to be an easy match in the conference. A team can easily go either 11-0 or 0-11 pretty quick.”
On where he sees his team come April and May
“Health is an important issue. Nobody’s so deep to where they can afford one of their top guys to get injured. With only four-and-a-half scholarships, there’s not a team in the country that can overcome that. You may have someone step into a role, but you have to stay healthy. If we can do that, and because I think that this team is already somewhat of an experienced team, I think that we have some things that we can accomplish and I’ve talked to all of my players in their semester-ending meetings and I said that you guys need to see yourselves as a top-10 team. From that point we will be able to see how it all plays out, but you guys are definitely as good as the next team.”
“I think that our doubles will be very strong and that’s a huge point in each-and-every match and then being solid from top to bottom is hopefully enough for three singles wins a match plus the doubles point.”
TIGER FOCUS
(Jeff Brown gives an in-depth perspective on each of his players)
Rafael Corazza
“He has come in and really gotten to work on a lot of his weaknesses this semester. He’s got a great attitude and he’s going to make it mentally, because I haven’t seen anyone come in and be as determined as he has these past few months and not have good things come out of it. Rafael has done a great job of adapting to our team.”
Frankie Green
“Frankie is a really good athlete. He’s been hampered with a couple of injuries lately, but he has the physical skills to overcome them and it will just be a matter of if he will work hard enough to crack the starting lineup.”
C. Micah Smith
“Micah was hampered throughout the fall with some injuries and he finally had knee surgery, but he has a big game and he definitely has the potential to provide some depth for us if he can stay healthy and work hard enough. He’s from Baton Rouge so we hope that he can continue to improve and represent LSU in the near future.”
Sebastian Rutka
“Seby has really taken a new focus which began in the summer tournaments and has carried over to his play in the fall. He has added some maturity and experience to his game that goes along with his talent and his speed. He is definitely one of the fastest, if not the fastest, players in the nation, so as he’s gained experience that we feel will help us reach a lot of our goals. He has taken on a leadership role with this team and was named one of our co-captains for the 2002-03 season.”
Jason Hazley
“Jason is definitely a lot more mature and a lot more experienced this season. He really gained some tremendous playing time as a freshman and I really believe that he is one of the biggest hitters in the nation this season.”
Cory Ross
“He is a lot more confident than he was last season. He had a great summer, an even better fall season and he’s one of our stronger students. Cory has the type of personality that every team needs and his leadership qualities during practice have really enhanced our entire team. He’s a top-notch conditioner and his work ethic helped earn him a co-captain title for this season.”
Peter Richman
“Peter’s game has really matured a lot since his freshman season and he has improved every aspect of his play along with an understanding of how he plays best from a match-management standpoint. He is a great student and he does an outstanding job of paying attention to detail and he always makes sure that he works extra on the little things.”
Bryan Fisher
“We look for Bryan to build on a solid 2002 season with an improved serve and by getting his attacking style to be a little more dominant. It takes longer for this style to gel, but he’s getting the hang of it and he’s a really great student.”
Brandon Nicholson
“Brandon has worked his way into the lineup by taking advantage of his great attitude and hard work. He has great endurance and is a big-time fighter on the court.”
Paul White
“Paul has great potential. He really has a big game and a huge slice. If he continues to work hard and give 100 percent in practice then we will be able to see some huge results in some other aspects of his game. He is a super student and earned a 4.0 while majoring in pre-medicine during his first semester.”