BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team will begin its 2003 dual-match season with a doubleheader on Saturday as the Tigers host both the Centenary Gents and the Southern Jaguars at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium beginning at 10 a.m.
“We’re looking for everybody to get off the blocks and have a good start to the dual-match season,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We put in the time between last season and now with a lot of hard work and it will be good to finally be able to put it to use. I think that facing Centenary and Southern will be a good first step for us.”
LSU heads into Saturday’s competition with some momentum after an impressive showing at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships a week ago. In the prestigious four-day tournament, the Tigers had one singles player and three doubles teams advance to the quarterfinal round of the event.
Peter Richman, the Tigers’ explosive sophomore from Toronto, Canada, recorded three consecutive victories over top-100 ranked opponents during the competition and knocked off Auburn’s 10th-ranked Rameez Junaid to reach the quarterfinals. The lefthander currently owns a 7-5 overall record on the season.
In doubles play, LSU’s 24th-ranked combination of Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley reeled off five-straight wins to capture the SEC Indoor title and placed themselves among the nation’s elite doubles teams this season.
Heading into Saturday’s competition, Fisher and Hazley own an impressive 9-2 mark in open play.
LSU has never been defeated by either Centenary or Southern in dual-match play. The Tigers are 14-0 against the Gents and have compiled a perfect 9-0 record versus Southern. Last season, LSU defeated Centenary, 7-0, in its season opener, while the Tigers’ notched two victories against the Jaguars by scores of 6-0 and 5-0.
Centenary will enter Saturday’s competition with the only match experience of the 2003 season, as the Gents were blanked by Arkansas-Little Rock, 7-0, on Tuesday. With the loss, Centenary dropped to an overall record of 0-1.
The LSU men’s tennis team will open its 2003 dual-match season on Saturday at 10 a.m. with a doubleheader against both Centenary and Southern at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. Admission is free to all LSU home tennis matches.