BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team hosts No. 5 Tennessee in a Southeastern Conference clash scheduled for 1 p.m. in W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium on Sunday.
The SEC competition is LSU’s second of the weekend as the team faced No. 3 Georgia on Friday, where two Tigers notched strong singles wins. Ninth-ranked LSU senior Michael Venus defeated No. 10 Nate Schnugg and freshman Neal Skupski defeated Georgia’s Josh Varela, both in close three-set matches.
“Against Georgia, we never gave up,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We are starting to put it together and everyone is working hard. Hopefully we can do that against Tennessee. We are still waiting for that big win to turn things around.”
LSU (6-7, 1-4 SEC) holds a 30-22 all-time record against Tennessee and has split the past two years in Knoxville. In both matches LSU captured the doubles point, and in 2007, the point proved the crucial difference in the Tigers’ 4-3 victory over the Vols.
The doubles point could prove just as pivotal in this year’s match as the Vols are 11-0 on the season after taking the early point.
In doubles, each team holds a nationally-ranked duo. LSU tandem Venus and Skupski rank at No. 12 while Tennessee holds No. 8 duo Davey Sandgren and J.P. Smith.
Tennessee (15-3, 4-1 SEC) also has two ranked singles players in No. 7 J.P. Smith and No. 25 Boris Conkic. Tigers senior Venus leads LSU on the courts at No. 9 in the nation.