BATON ROUGE — The No. 14-ranked Tigers will try to knock off ninth-ranked Florida on Friday at 4 p.m. in a competition that could shake up the Southeastern Conference standings.
LSU (15-4, 6-3 SEC) is currently tangled in a four-way tie for second place in the SEC with Florida, Georgia and Kentucky behind Ole Miss, which is 8-2 in the conference. A loss by Ole Miss at Kentucky this weekend could open the door for the Tigers’ first SEC championship since 1999.
But to have a chance, LSU must first get past the defending SEC champion Gators, who have won the last two meetings between the teams. Florida brings two All-Americans to the match, including seventh-ranked Hamid Mirzadeh.
“We did a good job on our five-match road swing and we head into this weekend looking to build on that momentum,” LSU coach Jeff Brown said. “Florida is ranked in the top 10 in the nation and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing a very good Florida team. “
Mirzadeh is also ranked 29th with Chris Brandi in doubles, but LSU has won the doubles point in its last seven matches.
The Tigers’ Jason Hazley and Bryan Fisher are ranked 26th and have won their last two matches at No. 1 doubles. LSU’s No. 2 pair of Cory Ross and Sebastian Rutka are ranked 41st and have not lost a match this season. Ken Skupski and Peter Richman round out the Tigers’ fierce doubles lineup with an 8-2 record.
In singles, Skupski has knocked off two consecutive opponents at No. 1 singles. The 28th-ranked freshman has recorded ten wins this season over ranked opponents, but a win over Mirzadeh would be just the second over a top-10 player.
LSU has won their last four SEC matches after a 2-3 start in the conference.
The first 50 fans to arrive at the match will receive LSU tennis koozies from the marketing and promotions department. Fans can also compete with Mike the Tiger in a “Throw for Dough” contest between the doubles and singles matches.