BATON ROUGE — LSU men’s tennis duo Michael Venus and Neal Skupski catapulted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Associations doubles rankings and listed at No. 9, the ITA released on Thursday.
Beginning at the Southeastern Conference Coaches’ Indoor Championships, the LSU duo kicked-off a strong campaign and notched a 3-1 record in their run to the finals bracket of the doubles competition, including a victory over the then 40th?ranked duo of Jaime Hunt and Nate Schnugg of Georgia, 8-6.
To begin the dual season, Venus and Skupski overcame Texas Tech’s former No. 7 duo of Raony Carvalho and Christian Rojmar by an 8-4 mark at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Tiger tandem notched its second top-ten victory of the weekend as they pushed past then 4th-ranked Arnau Brugues and Philip Stephens, 8-6.
LSU duo James Cluskey and Julien Gauthier made their debut in the ITA doubles rankings, listed at No. 53. With a 5-3 overall record, the LSU duo notched its most notable victory at the Auburn Spring Classic over the No. 14 doubles team of Blake Strode and Matt Hogan of Arkansas, 8-6.
Venus listed at No. 5 in the singles rankings. The LSU senior holds an overall singles mark of 11-4, the highest number of singles victories on the team and claimed the 2008 D’Novo All-American title in October.
The LSU men’s team listed at No. 14 in the rankings, moving up one spot. The Tigers own a 2 -1 record and most recently defeated 27th-ranked Rice, 4-3, in the LSU’s first home match of the season.
All 12 SEC teams appeared in the rankings and six listed in the top 20. Georgia remained the leader of the SEC in the rankings and moved up one spot from No. 3 to No. 2. After Georgia, Tennessee rose to the No. 4 position and Ole Miss remained at No. 9 to round out the SEC in the top ten. Florida listed at No. 11 and Alabama earned the No. 20 spot.
The Tigers return to action against the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in a match slated for Feb. 22 at the Stickney Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Men’s National Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
February 19, 2009
Rank School
1 Virginia
2 Georgia
3 Ohio State
4 Tennessee
5 Southern California
6 UCLA
7 Stanford
8 Texas
9 Mississippi
10 Illinois
11 Florida
12 Baylor
13 Texas A&M
14 LSU
15 Pepperdine
16 Florida State
17 Tulsa
18 Oklahoma State
19 Michigan
20 Alabama
21 Wake Forest
22 North Carolina
23 California
24 Miami (Florida)
25 Notre Dame