BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s tennis coach Jeff Brown would like to thank all of the fans that witnessed the Southeastern Conference Tournament that was held at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium this past week.
Dubbed as the “Court Crazies,” the LSU fans were in full force with their lively enthusiasm throughout the tournament and most notably during LSU’s two matches against Tennessee and Georgia. The Tigers (16-6, 7-4 SEC) defeated the Volunteers, 4-2, in the semifinals and were eliminated in a hard fought match against the Tournament Champion Bulldogs, 4-1.
“I would like to thank everyone that came out and showed great support during the tournament,” Brown said. “LSU has a tradition of great fan support and our tennis fans are no different. The crowds that we had during the event were great. I can’t explain how much that energy helped our guys during this tournament. It kept us in the match against Georgia, and even after we lost a tough doubles point the crowd was still fighting with us.”
LSU was the only team in the tournament to capture a win in either singles or doubles against the Tournament Champion Georgia.
Georgia coach Manuel Diaz, who was recently named SEC Co-Coach of the Year, acknowledged the fans after the match.
“That (LSU’s crowd) was a big hurdle for us Saturday,” Diaz said. “We had to endure a large home crowd against us and that put us under a lot of pressure. We did a good job of embracing that and (Sunday) it was almost a relief to come out and not have everybody pulling against us.”
Brown also wanted to commend the LSU staff for their work in setting up and hosting the four-day event.
“Our staff did a great job of hosting this event and being prepared for every situation,” Brown commented. “Everybody from facilities, event management, sports information, and the training staff did an outstanding job and made it a smooth transition from match to match. I am very proud of the event we put on.”
LSU will not play again until May 11 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Tigers will learn their tournament fate May 1 when selections are announced. According the NCAA selection procedure, the 16 highest-ranked teams will receive bids to host the first two rounds of the tournament. The Tigers are currently ranked No. 15.
Brown hopes that if they host a regional, that they are welcomed with the same response from the fans.
“We would like to get that same energy if we do host in the first round,” he said “If we do host, I would encourage anyone that wasn’t able to make it to the SEC Tournament to come out and enjoy a great atmosphere and see some of the best teams in college tennis.”