GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The No. 9 ranked LSU men’s tennis team (10-1, 0-0) opens its Southeastern Conference schedule Friday aganst No. 7-ranked Florida (5-4, 0-0) at 3 p.m.
It will be LSU’s second consecutive top 10 matchup on the road. They beat then-No. 9 Texas A&M, 4-1 last Saturday.
“We’re coming off our best performance of the year,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “We’re looking to build on that.”
The Tigers have not beaten Florida in their last three tries.
Brown said despite Florida’s 5-4 record, they are still one of the top teams in the nation.
The Gators feature three ranked singles players besides two-time All-American Hamid Mirzadeh.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” Brown said. “And we’re looking forward to geting the SEC season underway.”
The race for the conference crown now includes four top-10 teams. LSU and Florida are joined by No. 5 Ole Miss and No. 8 Georgia.
LSU brings as many weapons into the match, including two ranked doubles teams, No. 4 Ken Skupski and Mark Growcott and No. 37 Jason Hazley and Danny Bryan. In singles, Skupski is ranked fifth and Hazley is 96th.
The Tigers continue their eight-match road stretch on Sunday at South Carolina.