BATON ROUGE — The 23rd-ranked LSU men’s tennis team is set to take on another tough Southeastern Conference rival on Sunday as the Tigers host No. 17 Auburn at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“Auburn is a really good SEC team and is actually very similar to Alabama,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “They have a very good No. 1 singles player in Rameez Junaid and an extremely talented doubles player in (Andy) Columbo, but I think that we will be able to play them tough and pick up some victories at the bottom of our lineup.”
LSU heads into Sunday’s SEC Western Division contest with a 6-2 overall record and an 0-1 mark in conference play. After beginning dual-match play with a perfect 5-0 record, the Tigers dropped two of its last three contests against 12th-ranked Texas A&M, 5-2 and No. 11 Alabama, 6-1.
On Friday, LSU lost its first home match of the 2003 campaign as the Alabama Crimson Tide rallied for an 11th-consecutive victory and upped its conference-leading record to 11-0. Despite the loss, LSU owns a 6-1 mark in Baton Rouge and has outscored its opponents 39-9 at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Auburn Tigers come into Sunday’s matchup with an overall record of 7-1 on the season and a 1-0 mark in SEC play.
In Friday’s conference opener, Auburn edged Arkansas, 4-3, on the road in Fayetteville, Ark. The Tigers have only played three road matches this season and own a 2-1 record away from the Luther Young Tennis Center.
Auburn’s lone loss of the season came on the road against 13th-ranked North Carolina, 5-1.
LSU will be led in Sunday’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 12-7 overall record in singles play and has registered four victories over top-100 ranked opponents this season.
Auburn’s Junaid will lead the Plainsmen into action on Sunday as the Tigers’ junior is nationally ranked in both singles and doubles competition. The native of Melbourne, Australia, is the 24th-ranked singles player in the country and is also a member of the No. 39 doubles tandem along with Rodrigo Minozzo.
The 23rd-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will attempt to break even in SEC play on Sunday as the Tigers host No. 17 Auburn at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
Admission is free to all LSU home tennis matches and refreshments will provided by the Tennis Tiger Athletic Foundation.