BATON ROUGE — The 16th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will try for its first Southeastern Conference wins this weekend when they host Kentucky and Vanderbilt at the W.T. Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Tigers (12-5, 0-4 SEC) will be tested first by No. 30 Kentucky (11-6, 1-3 SEC) on Friday at 2 p.m. Kentucky was ranked in the top 15 for most of the season. The Wildcats have not played a match in more than two weeks.
“I still consider Kentucky a top-15 team,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We will need to play our best to win.”
Kentucky is led by All-American and fourth-ranked Jesse Witten at No. 1 singles. He is also ranked 21st in doubles with Tigran Martirosyan.
“Their lineup presents some match-up problems due to the way it its arranged,” Brown said.
The Tigers earned two wins last weekend over Michigan and South Florida after a rough start to conference play. They are one of four SEC teams without a win in conference play. Two others are 1-3.
LSU’s lineup is strong as well with three players and three doubles teams listed in the latest poll.
Ken Skupski, ranked 12th in singles and sixth in doubles with Mark Growcott, will look to rebound from losses in both in the Michigan match. Growcott is 84th in singles and is undefeated at the second position this season.
The No. 37-ranked pair of Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston played last week for the first time in the dual season at No. 2 doubles and earned two wins. Peter Richman and Jason Hazley also won twice on court three.
LSU will play Vanderbilt on Sunday at noon.