COLUMBUS, Ohio — James Cluskey and Ken Skupski of the LSU men’s tennis team are set to compete in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships hosted by Ohio State University this weekend.
The tournament will be held from Thursday through Sunday at the Racquet Club of Columbus.
“This is a good opportunity for Ken to get some valuable experience against some tough opponents,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “I know him and James are looking forward to getting back on the court after they fell short in the semifinals at the last ITA event they played in.”
Skupski will be competing in the 32-player singles competition and will pair up with Cluskey in the 16-team doubles portion of the tournament. The doubles pair earned an invite to this tournament by reaching the semifinals of the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships in early October.
Skupski will face Luke Shields of Boise State in singles play. The last time the ITA All-American faced Shields in singles was at the 2005 ITA Team Indoor Championships, where he defeated the Bronco in straight sets.
In doubles play, Skupski will team up with Cluskey to battle Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Andrey Kumantsov and Mikael Pavlou. The Tiger tandem holds a 6-3 record as a doubles team.
Play is set to begin Thursday at 10 a.m.
2006 ITA NATIONAL INTERCOLLEGIATE INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Day 1 Schedule
November 2, 2006
Singles
#12 Ken Skupski (LSU) vs. #33 Luke Shields (Boise State), 4:30 p.m.CT
Doubles
#28 James Cluskey/Ken Skupski (LSU) vs. Andrey Kumanstov/Mikael Pavlou (Texas A&M CC), 10 a.m. CT
# national rankings