BATON ROUGE — Arguably the best conference in college tennis will be heading to Baton Rouge as LSU will host the Southeastern Conference Men’s Tennis Tournament beginning Thursday at 8 a.m. at the W. T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
11 SEC teams are currently ranked, including six in the top 25. The SEC boasts 28 ranked singles players and 14 ranked doubles teams.
LSU received the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye. They will play the winner of the Tennessee vs. Arkansas match at 5 p.m. on Friday.
“It doesn’t hurt to have an extra day of rest especially with the quality of teams that are in our conference,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “This tournament is a great opportunity for local tennis fans to come watch some of the best teams in the nation.”
Alabama and South Carolina will face each other in the first match of the tournament on Thursday at 8 a.m. The winner will play Florida at 8 a.m. on Friday.
Alabama heads into the SEC tournament on a four-match winning streak after a comeback victory over No. 35 Auburn at the Auburn Intramural Courts last weekend. Alabama head coach Billy Pate was named SEC Co-Coach of the Year this week. Alabama defeated South Carolina earlier this season, 6-1, in Tuscaloosa. Alabama will rely on its doubles play to get an early lead on its opponents as they have done all season.
“South Carolina will be a tough match just as it was when we played them two weeks ago,” Pate said. “The final score was not indicative of the competitiveness of the match and we’ll need to be ready to play. We’ve been consistent throughout the spring and I’m proud of the way this group has responded to each challenge in front of them.”
South Carolina wrapped up the regular season with an 11-13 overall record and a 2-9 mark in SEC matches. Carolina features a young squad with a typical lineup that includes four true freshmen. Freshman Pedro Campos, who capped the regular season with a pair of impressive wins over ranked opponents, leads the team with a 24-13 singles record followed by junior Yevgeny Supeko’s 22-10 mark.
The second match on Thursday will be Auburn against Kentucky at 11 a.m. The winner will face Ole Miss on Friday at 11 a.m.
The Auburn men’s tennis team enters the SEC Tournament with a 13-8 record, including a 6-5 ledger inside the conference. Auburn enters the tournament having defeated two top-20 opponents in the final two weekends of play, including then-No. 13 LSU and No. 17 Florida. This marks the first time Auburn has met Kentucky in the SEC Tournament since 2002 when Auburn defeated the Wildcats in the second round. Auburn is 3-0 all-time versus the Wildcats in tournament play.
“We ended the regular season well. I hope to continue this momentum in the conference tournament, beginning on Thursday against Kentucky,” Auburn head coach Eric Shore said. “I hope we can get out to the early lead by taking the doubles point and build on that.”
Kentucky once again faced some of the stiffest competition in the country, including six matches with teams ranked in the top-10 in the nation. Sophomore Bruno Agostinelli highlighted the individual performances of the season when he knocked off then-No. 1 Steve Moneke of Ohio State in three sets in February. Kentucky’s marquee win as a team was their upset bid over SEC-foe Alabama on the Wildcats’ home court for their first conference win of the season.
The third match on Thursday will feature Vanderbilt against Mississippi State at 2 p.m. The winner will play top-seeded Georgia at 2 p.m. on Friday.
The Vanderbilt Commodores are in the fledging stages of rebuilding with 2005-appointed Head Coach Ian Duvenhage. In 2006, the Commodores were only able to finish with two conference wins, but have already doubled that number for 2007. The team is lead at No. 1 by junior Ryan Preston, but three seniors, Andy Mack, Jordan Magarik and Nathan Sachs help anchor the team.
“This year we are just looking to build upon what we started last season. At this time last year we only had two conference wins, but we’ve already doubled that now,” Vanderbilt head coach Ian Duvenhage said. “We’ve made some improvements and I just want our guys to play to the ability I know they can perform at for this tournament.”
The Mississippi State men’s tennis team is coming off a loss to No. 7 Mississippi this past Saturday. MSU is 6-13 overall this season, including a 3-8 mark in league play. Last season at the SEC Tournament in Tuscaloosa, Ala., State upset LSU and Kentucky and reached the semifinals for the first time since 1998. The Bulldogs became the first 12 seed to win a match since 12 team tournament was implemented in 1992.
The final match of the day will be Tennessee against Arkansas at 5 p.m. for the right to play LSU on Friday at the same time.
Tennessee heads into the SEC tournament 15-6 overall and 7-4 in the SEC. Four of the Vols six losses this season have been by the score of 4-3. UT fell in its most recent outing at Georgia 4-1 but was the first team this season to beat the Bulldogs for the doubles point. The Vols led by juniors Kaden Hensel and Bobby Cameron, received a No. 5 seed for the tournament and face 12th-seeded Arkansas in the first round. UT defeated the Razorbacks 7-0 on March 4 in Knoxville.
“The SEC tournament is always the highlight of the players’ season,” Tennessee head coach Sam Winterbotham said. “We’re very excited to come to Baton Rouge and compete for the SEC championship.”
The Razorbacks are 7-21 and 0-11 in conference play. Playing at No. 1 singles through out the season, Blake Strode ended the 2007 regular season on a hot streak, upsetting the nation’s 24th-ranked player, LSU’s Ken Skupski, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. The 77th-ranked Strode won six-consecutive matches, with his last five wins coming against nationally-ranked opponents. The sophomore recorded nine wins against ranked opponents in 2007 en route to a 26-10 season, including a 17-7 dual-match mark and a stellar 7-4 in the SEC, all at No. 1 singles.
2007 SEC MEN’S TENNIS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Thursday, April 19
Match 1: #11 South Carolina vs. #6 Alabama 8 .a.m.
Match 2: #10 Kentucky vs. #7 Auburn 11 a.m.
Match 3: #8 Vanderbilt vs. #9 Mississippi State 2 p.m.
Match 4: #12 Arkansas vs. #5 Tennessee 5 p.m.
Friday, April 20
Match 5: Match 1 winner vs. #3 Florida 8 a.m.
Match 6: Match 2 winner vs. #2 Ole Miss 11 a.m.
Match 7: Match 3 winner vs. #1 Georgia 2 p.m.
Match 8: Match 4 winner vs. #4 LSU 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 21
Match 9: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner 11 a.m.
Match 10: Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 22
Championship: Match 9 winner vs. Match 10 winner 1 p.m.
All times central and subject to change.