BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s tennis team is ranked at No. 23 in the country according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers, last year’s Southeastern Conference Western Division champions who finished the 2004 season ranked at No. 20 in the nation, return five members from last year’s roster and welcome three new members.
Stanford, last year’s national champion, takes the No. 1 overall ranking in the nation. Florida, Clemson, UCLA and Northwestern round out the top five.
LSU is one of six SEC teams to break into the top 25. Florida tops the list at No. 2 followed by Vanderbilt at No. 6. Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee also join at Nos. 13, 14 and 18, respectively.
LSU’s schedule features eight teams in the top 25, including in-state rival Tulane ranked at No. 9. The Lady Tigers open their dual-match season Jan. 22 with matches against Centenary and UL-Lafayette.
ITA RANKINGS
January 11, 2005
1. Stanford
2. Florida
3. Clemson
4. UCLA
5. Northwestern
6. Vanderbilt
7. USC
8. Duke
9. Tulane
10. Washington
11. Texas
12. Miami (Fla.)
13. Georgia
14. Kentucky
15. North Carolina
16. Texas A&M
17. California
18. Tennessee
19. TCU
20. Michigan
21. Notre Dame
22. Fresno State
23. LSU
24. New Mexico
25. BYU