BATON ROUGE — The 23rd-ranked LSU men’s tennis team takes to the road Saturday for a date with its fiercest rival, No. 19 Texas A&M at 1:30 p.m.
The match will be the first real test for the Tigers, who have amassed a 5-0 record against in-state opponents. Meanwhile the Aggies (3-3) have dropped three straight matches, including one against Southeastern Conference-foe Florida.
The rivalry heated up in 1998 with a 4-3 LSU victory. The next year, A&M returned the favor with a 6-1 domination in College Station against a youthful Tiger team.
Without a doubt, the best match between the two teams came in 2001 when the Aggies edged LSU, 4-3. The match came down to a third-set tiebreaker which Texas A&M’s Ryan Newport won 7-5 over Sanjin Sadovich.
In the past two seasons, the rivalry has taken on more importance as the Tigers have been ousted from the NCAA Tournament each season courtesy of the Aggies.
“This is definitely a match-up that has become a premier rivalry in college tennis over the past couple of years,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “We go into Texas A&M expecting a hostile crowd and a tough match every time we play there.”
In this year’s version of the LSU-Texas A&M classic, six ranked singles player and four ranked doubles teams will be on showcase. Sebastien Rutka leads the Tigers with his No. 74 ranking. Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley come in at No. 101 and 125, respectively.
For the Aggies, Lester Cook is ranked No. 71 and Ante Matejevic is No. 83. Matt Loucks is just ahead of Hazley at No. 123.
“Each team is matched up evenly from the top of the line-up to the bottom,” Brown added. “I think it will be a matter of who plays the big points the best and who wants it the most.”