LSU Tennis Players Cody Loup, David Roberts and Andrew Meyers Carry Louisiana Success onto Courts for the Tigers
There is no place like home. Cody Loup, David Roberts and Andrew Meyers of the LSU men’s tennis team take the phrase to heart. All three followed a different path to LSU, and at many times their paths intertwined, but all three take a special pride in attending the university, which each described as the place he had always dreamed of playing.
Loup’s journey began less than five miles away from W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium, the Tigers’ home courts on which he would one day play. A standout at Baton Rouge’s Catholic High, Loup earned the honor of Most Valuable Player as a sophomore, junior and senior. TennisRecruiting.net named him a four-star recruit and also listed the tennis standout as the No. 2 player in the state of Louisiana. Having lived in Louisiana his entire life, Loup decided to try a different path when choosing a college. The Baton Rouge native chose to attend Memphis in the fall of 2006 and had a successful season with its tennis team in 2007, notching eight wins as a freshman as well as two wins in the doubles top-spot. Although he had success, something was missing.
“I went to Memphis for a year and it was fun to get away, but once I was there, I realized how much I missed Louisiana,” Loup remembered. “There is nothing like playing for your hometown school, especially LSU, because the tradition is great and it’s where I dreamed of playing when I was growing up.”
In late 2007, Loup returned to Baton Rouge to join the LSU tennis team and received a redshirt. The 5-11 junior returned to the courts wearing purple and gold at the beginning of the 2008-09 season for the ULL Invitational. Loup notched his first win as a Tiger at the tournament with partner David Roberts against Samford’s Kelwin Dewet and Brian Dushock by an 8-6 mark. The victory would be the only doubles match LSU could complete due to inclement weather, but the instance was not the first time Loup and Roberts played on the same courts.
“We were good friends growing up because Baton Rouge and Lafayette aren’t far away,” said Loup. “I’d see him pretty much every weekend, and whenever we went to tournaments out of state, we were teammates.”
Roberts grew up less than an hour from Baton Rouge in Lafayette, La. His fascination with tennis began after his first match at the age of eight and from that point on, the sport hooked the young Roberts. He had simple beginnings as he began training in his hometown, and his many years of hard work culminated in Roberts’ outstanding senior season at Lafayette’s St. Thomas More High School. He not only went undefeated, but he also helped lead his team to the 4A state championship title. After a phenomenal senior campaign, Roberts decided to come to LSU.
“Nothing suited me better than LSU,” Roberts said. “I decided to go to school where it had always been my dream.”
After red shirting his freshman season, Roberts was able to return to Lafayette to once again to play in his hometown at the ULL Invitational. There in front of friends and family, Roberts was able to achieve the first singles victory of his collegiate career against Oliver Cuthill of UNO, despite a three-hour rain delay. Trailing 3-0 at the onset of the rain, Roberts rose to defeat Cuthill by a 6-3, 6-1 mark.
“That was probably the first time all of my family had made it to see me play in at least six years,” said Roberts said.
Roberts was not the only one to return to play in front of his hometown fans at the ULL Invitational as teammate Andrew Meyers also hails from Lafayette. His first match was at the age of eight as well and from there his passion grew. As Meyers grew in his game, he trained along with Roberts in Lafayette with tennis coach Gus Rivera.
Meyers posted a perfect 20-0 record his senior season at Lafayette High School and emerged from his senior year as the undefeated Louisiana State Champion in class 5A doubles. After an impressive high school career, Meyers decided to take a break from tennis.
“I think more than anything I got kind of burned out,” Meyers remembered. “I just decided to take time off and Coach Brown talked to me about coming back to play again. I decided to come back because I’d missed tennis so much.”
After many years of playing both against each other and at times on the same team, the talented trio united under LSU’s head coach Jeff Brown.
“They are a talented group, and they help bring perspective and some of the Louisiana culture to the guys that aren’t from around here,” Brown said.
As far as they have all come, one day each will set out on his own path, but no matter where he goes, each will have deeply entrenched roots in not only Louisiana, but also in LSU. With their first collegiate matches for LSU behind them in the fall, each can only grow from his experiences and allow success to build from success. Loup, Roberts and Meyers are all three homegrown?and home proud.