BATON ROUGE — The No. 12-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will play its first dual matches of the season Saturday with a triple-header against Southeastern La., Centenary and Southern.
The Tigers will be looking to build on last year’s success, which saw them finish ranked No. 13 in the country. They return seven players from that team, plus four newcomers who will play their first home matches tomorrow.
“Playing three matches gives us a chance to look at all our players,” said eighth-year head coach Jeff Brown. “We are all excited to get the season started.”
This year’s version of the Tigers features four nationally ranked singles players and doubles teams who will all play tomorrow.
No. 12-ranked Ken Skupski recently won the SEC Coaches’ Indoor Singles Crown. He will lead the Tigers at the No. 1 position. No. 84-ranked senior Jason Hazley will begin his last dual season tomorrow.
Skupski is ranked 13th in singles with Mark Growcott and Hazley is 34th with Danny Bryan.
The first match begins at noon against SLU at W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium, followed by Centenary at 4 p.m. and Southern at 7 p.m. LSU is a combined 39-0 against those teams, but Brown said the matches will competitive.
“Southeastern was a challenge for us last year and they have improved since then,” Brown said. “And Southern is always strong at the top of their lineup.”
Tennis’ opening day is part of LSU’s “Super Tiger Weekend,” three days packed with 14 different home athletic events from nine LSU varsity squads.