BATON ROUGE — The 18th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will host No. 25 Texas A&M on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium in its final match before Southeastern Conference play begins.
The Tigers (3-1) are anxious to get back on the court after their last match against the Clemson Tigers last Thursday was cancelled due to inclement weather. The Clemson match will not be rescheduled.
In LSU’s last competition, it won all six doubles matches and took all 12 singles matches in straight sets against Southern Miss and Southern this past Sunday.
The Aggies (3-2) are led by Steven Denton, who is in his second year as head coach. LSU is the third-straight ranked opponent Texas A&M as faced after falling to seventh-ranked Texas, 4-0, and 25th-ranked Tulsa, 5-2, two weeks ago.
The LSU-Texas A&M series has become an intense rivalry over the last few years. The Tigers have won the last three meetings with the Aggies. Last season, the two teams squared off on St. Patrick’s Day when Ireland native James Cluskey clinched the match for the Tigers on court six.
“Our matches with Texas A&M have always had a lot of energy,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “In the history of the series it has always come down to a point or two. They are a well coached team. They are a young team on the rise and we are expecting great fight out of them which will be similar to what we face in the SEC. We are excited to have them on our schedule and look forward to a great day of tennis.”
Both teams have one player and one doubles team listed in the latest national rankings.
Michael Venus, who plays the No. 1 position in LSU’s singles lineup, appeared in the rankings for the first time at No. 70 this week. 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.
Aggie Conor Pollock is listed at No. 27 in singles and he and partner Austin Krajicek appear in the doubles rankings at No. 22.
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.