OXFORD, Miss. — The LSU men’s tennis team plays the first of two away matches this weekend against top-15 ranked Southeastern Conference teams when they take on No. 4 Ole Miss Friday at 2 p.m.
The No. 22 Tigers (13-6, 1-5) are fresh off their first SEC win last weekend over Vanderbilt. The Rebels (15-2, 5-1) suffered their first SEC lost in their last match to No. 8 Georgia.
“Ole Miss’ entire lineup is pretty similar from one through six,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “There’s not a lot of drop-off. We’re hoping to take advantage of anyone who doesn’t show up on Friday and to play a strong doubles point as well.”
The Rebels have won 21 consecutive regular season matches at home, dating back to April 6, 2003. Their singles lineup includes All-American Catalin Gard, ranked third in the nation. Gard will face LSU’s 12th-ranked Ken Skupski, who is still in search of his first SEC win at No. 1 singles.
LSU’s Danny Bryan and Mark Growcott have each won four matches in a row heading into this weekend. Growcott, ranked 84th in singles, plays in the No. 2 position. Bryan’s wins have all come in the No. 5 slot.
Bryan has also won his last four doubles matches with Colt Gaston on court two.
LSU will continue the weekend at No. 14-ranked Mississippi State on Sunday.
Brown said his team is looking forward to the challenge of facing two highly-ranked opponents.
“This is a typical weekend in SEC tennis,” he said. “Ultimately all the teams usually wind up being in the top-25, so we get a lot of opportunities some other schools don’t. The SEC always grants you the opportunity for a quality win.”