BATON ROUGE — The 23rd-ranked LSU men’s tennis team is set to begin Southeastern Conference play on Friday as the Tigers host the No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide at 2 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“This has become one of the better rivalries in the SEC over the last few years,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We’ve been going back and forth recently and every time that we play it’s close. I’m expecting it to be a well played tennis match and it’s going to come down to the very end.”
LSU heads into Friday’s conference opener with an overall record of 6-1 on the season and a perfect 6-0 mark at home. Up to this point in the 2003 dual-match campaign, the Tigers have played dominant tennis in Baton Rouge and have outscored their opponents 38-3. LSU’s lone loss of the season came on the road against 19th-ranked Texas A&M, 5-2.
The Crimson Tide rolls into Baton Rouge with an unblemished 10-0 record and is one of only two teams in the SEC that has remained undefeated. South Carolina heads up the Eastern Division with a flawless 7-0 mark on the season.
“Alabama’s been winning and they’ve been playing extremely well this season,” Brown said. “In some cases, they have actually been able to win even when they weren’t playing their best tennis, so it shows that in order for us to win we our going to have to close out our matches whenever we get a chance.”
Last year, Alabama and LSU faced off twice with each team recording a victory. The Tide defeated LSU in the regular season matchup, 4-1, while the Tigers upset Alabama, 4-2, in the opening round of the SEC Tournament. LSU holds a decisive 33-20-1 advantage in the all-time series record.
LSU will be led in Friday’s competition by 47th-ranked Peter Richman and a pair of nationally ranked doubles teams.
Richman, the Tigers’ flashy lefthander from Toronto, Canada, owns a 12-6 overall record in singles play and has registered four victories over top-100 ranked opponents this season. During the 2002 SEC Tournament, Richman knocked off Alabama’s Chris Gostek, 6-4, 6-1, in the No. 2 singles contest.
The Crimson Tide is led by a trio of ranked singles players in No. 63 Maxim Belski, No. 73 Stephen Mitchell and Gostek, the 119th-ranked player in the nation. In doubles play, Alabama features two ranked doubles teams in No. 17 Geoff Hiscox and Mitchell, as well as the 60th-ranked tandem of Gostek and Willam Boyles.
The 23rd-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will look to begin SEC play with a victory on Friday as the Tigers host the undefeated 11th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide at 2 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
Admission is free to all LSU home matches and refreshments will be provided by the Tennis Tiger Athletic Foundation.