BATON ROUGE — LSU senior Michael Venus jumped to No. 6 in singles and rose in the doubles rankings as well as he and freshman partner Neal Skupski posted at No. 8 in the Campbell/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings released by the ITA on Tuesday.
Venus is currently on a four-match win streak against nationally-ranked opponents. The 6-3 LSU senior defeated then 70th-ranked Lucas Jovita in Baton Rouge, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, before taking to the road to defeat former No. 16 Connor Pollock at Texas A&M, 6-3, 6-4, and No 10. Nate Schnugg at Georgia, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6.
Most recently the former ninth-ranked Venus fought to overcome a first-set deficit against Tennessee’s then seventh-ranked John-Patrick Smith in front of a home crowd in W.T. Robinson Stadium, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
In doubles Venus and Skupski moved from No. 12 to No. 8 in the rankings after several close matches with top 10 duos and a victory over a then 27th-ranked Thomas Estrada and Lucas Jovita of South Florida, 8-4.
Venus and Skupski will return to action along with the rest of the Tigers as LSU takes on 10th-ranked Florida in a 2 p.m. Southeastern Conference match on Friday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
Tennis Players Move into Nation's Top 10