BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team will face Kentucky Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. in W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium for its first home Southeastern Conference match.
The Tigers (4-3, 0-2 SEC) opened SEC play last weekend with a trip to Alabama . Last Friday, LSU fell to then 20th-ranked Alabama , 5-2. Last Sunday, LSU overcame some unfortunate breaks in doubles to put up a valiant effort in singles against Auburn , but it wasn’t enough as Auburn came out with a 4-3 victory. Junior James Cluskey and senior Kevin Dessauer each picked up singles victories in both matches.
LSU leads the all-time series against Kentucky with a 29-11 record. Last season the Tigers won by a 6-1 mark in Baton Rouge .
“The guys have had a great week of practice and we feel like we are close to hitting on all cylinders,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Hopefully with a few more matches we will build some more confidence. Our next challenge in the conference is no easy match but we are looking forward to it.”
Freshman Sebastian Carlsson continues to lead LSU in wins after he notched another win against Auburn to push his total to 16. Junior Michael Venus is listed in the single rankings at No. 86.
Kentucky spilt its first two conference matches with a win against South Carolina , 5-2, last Friday and a loss to then 11th-ranked Florida , 6-1, on Sunday. The Wildcats are led by Dennis Emery, who is in his 26th season as Kentucky ‘s head coach. Junior Bruno Agostinelli is listed at No. 56 in the national singles rankings.
Men's Tennis to Open SEC Home Slate Against Kentucky