BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team will take on Clemson Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
LSU (3-1) won all six doubles matches and took all 12 singles matches in straight sets against Southern Miss and Southern this past weekend.
Clemson (7-4) is coached by Chuck Kriese, who is in his 33rd year in leading the Tigers and is retiring after the season. Clemson last competed on Feb. 10 when it defeated UC Irvine, 4-3.
Clemson leads the all-time series against LSU, 7-6. Clemson won the last meeting, 4-3, in 2006 at Robinson Stadium.
“Clemson has been one of the elite programs over the last 25 years and that is a direct reflection of coach Kriese,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “You can always expect them to fight and have a match that will come down to the wire.”
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its latest rankings on Wednsday. LSU (No. 18) and Clemson (No. 32) remained at their respective spots.
Michael Venus, who plays the No. 1 position in LSU’s singles lineup, appeared in the rankings for the first time at No. 70. The Orlando, Fla. native holds a 5-2 record and has won three of his last four matches.
Kevin Dessauer and Jan Zelezny are listed at No. 57 in the doubles rankings. The senior tandem holds a 3-3 record this season.
Clemson has one player listed in the individual rankings with Kiril Dimtrov listed at No. 99 in singles.
Zelezny leads LSU in wins this season with 14. The Czech Republic native had an efficient outing in LSU’s last match against Southern by being the first Tiger to win his singles and doubles match. Zelezny defeated Bino Rasedisa, 6-0, 6-0, in 27 minutes and teamed up with Sebastian Carlsson to take out Onx Matong and Rasedisa, 8-1, in 21 minutes. 10 of Zelezny’s 14 singles wins have come in straight sets.
Brown took time Wednesday to acknowledge a number of his players who were honored last Sunday at the Tiger Athletic Foundation Academic Excellence Gala.
Dessauer highlighted the event for men’s tennis by being named the 2008 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and being one of the 10 recipients of the Wally Pontiff, Jr. Academic Excellence Award. The Kinesiology major has held a perfect 4.0 grade-point average during his time at LSU.
Also honored at the event were seniors Colt Gaston and Zelezny and former players Danny Bryan, Eric DeRoche and Ken Skupski as recipients of the LSU Director’s Cup and SEC Honor Roll honors.
“It makes it very rewarding to be a coach to see so many guys recognized for their academic performance,” Brown commented. “Kevin has handled himself very well as a student, athlete and person in the community. He has been a great example for our guys as team captain.”