SEATTLE — Play begins tomorrow for the No. 15-ranked LSU men’s tennis team in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships against defending NCAA champion UCLA.
The 10th-seeded Tigers (5-1) will face the seventh-seeded Bruins (5-2) in the tournament’s opening round Friday at 4:30 p.m. CST at the Seattle Tennis Club.
The ITA Indoor is arguably the most distinguished collegiate indoor tournament in the land and includes a draw of 16 of the nation’s top ranked teams. This year’s event boasts 11 of the country’s top-12 teams.
LSU head coach Jeff Brown is excited about the Tigers’ opportunity to compete against top competition.
“It’s an honor to get to play this event because every team here is just so good,” Brown said. “I think we’re ready to come in here and show what we can do with the top tier teams.”
Both of UCLA’s losses this season have come against top-10 opposition and the Bruins are fresh off of a 4-3 win over San Diego State. With LSU coming off of a 6-1 loss to Ohio State, Brown knows the difficulty of the task at hand but feels his team is up to the challenge.
“Any time you play the defending national champions you know you’re going to be in for a fight,” said Brown. “They have showed they’re human this season, but certainly we have too.”
Friday’s match will pit LSU’s No. 66-ranked Ken Skupski against the Bruins’ No. 1 singles player, third-ranked Benjamin Kohlloeffel. Skupski is currently riding a 15 singles match winning streak and has won 13 of his last 14 indoor matches.
The Tigers last faced the UCLA in 1999 and are 0-5 against the Bruins all-time.
Awaiting the Tigers in round two could be SEC rival Georgia if both teams win their Friday matches.