BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team will attempt to knock off its second top-20 ranked opponent of the 2003 season on Saturday as the Tigers host the 16th-ranked Texas Longhorns at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“We’ve already played a number of tough teams this season and this match is going to come down to the same things,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “The doubles point is going to be huge and we’ve got to get off to a good start in the singles competition. Playing at home will be a big advantage for us and we just have to feed off of the intensity of the crowd.”
LSU heads into Saturday’s non-conference matchup with an overall record of 8-5 on the season and a 3-5 mark against ranked opponents.
During the 2003 dual-match season, the Tigers have rallied for wins over No. 17 Auburn, 6-1, No. 27 Tennessee, 4-3, and the 54th-ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 6-1. LSU’s victories over Auburn and Tulsa came at home in Baton Rouge, while the Tigers upended Tennessee on the road in Knoxville, Tenn.
Texas comes to Baton Rouge with an 8-3 overall record and a 4-3 mark in matches away from Austin, Texas. This season, the Longhorns have posted road wins over No. 54 Tulsa, 5-2, Wichita State, 6-1, No. 33 San Diego State, 4-1, and the 13th-ranked and defending national champion Southern California, 4-0.
In their first home contest of the 2003 campaign, the Longhorns topped 12th-ranked Texas A&M, 4-2, in front of a record-setting crowd at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. Earlier this year, LSU fell prey to the Texas A&M Aggies, 5-2, in College Station, Texas.
“I think that during a week off from SEC play, it helps us to play a tough team like Texas,” Brown said. “All season long we’ve wanted to improve the level of our play and the only way that you can do that is by playing against some of the nation’s best opponents.”
Peter Richman, LSU’s sophomore from Toronto, Canada, is the 51st-ranked singles player in the nation and is expected to play Texas’ All-American and 42nd-ranked Jose Zarhi on court No. 2. Richman heads into Saturday’s competition with an overall record of 12-12 on the season.
The Longhorns’ No. 1 singles player, Jean Simon, is the 28th-ranked player in the nation and will most likely face off with LSU’s Jason Hazley on Saturday. Hazley, the Tigers’ sophomore from Bradenton, Fla., currently owns a 14-13 record and is 2-4 while playing in the No. 1 singles position.
LSU and Texas have competed against each other 25 times since the series began in 1959. The Longhorns own a significant 16-8-1 advantage in the all-time rivalry, but LSU has been victorious in seven of the previous eight contests. During the 2001 NCAA Tournament, LSU knocked off Texas, 4-2, in the second round of competition held in Baton Rouge.
The LSU men’s tennis team will look to improve to 7-1 against non-conference opponents on Saturday as the Tigers play host to the 16th-ranked Texas Longhorns at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
Admission is free to all LSU home tennis matches and refreshments will be provided by the Tiger Tennis Athletic Foundation.