GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The LSU men’s tennis team takes to the road to square off with the 10th-ranked Florida Gators in a 2 p.m. match on Friday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
“Florida is one of the top teams in the Southeastern Conference,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “They have a strong lineup in both singles and doubles. We are trying to build on our good form from the past couple of matches and put things together against them.”
Florida (12-6, 3-3 SEC) is led in singles competition by 27th-ranked Carlos Cueto with a 7-6 dual season record. In addition to Cueto, the University of Florida is home to No. 28 Alex Lacroix and No. 92 Tyler Hochwalt. In doubles, the Gators feature the 17th-ranked duo of Antoine Benneteau and Joey Burkhardt, 11-9 on the season.
LSU’s sixth-ranked Michael Venus leads the Tigers into competition with an 8-5 record. The SEC Athlete of the Week is currently on a four-match win streak in which he defeated a nationally-ranked opponent in each match, including two top-10 athletes in former No. 10 Nate Schnugg of Georgia and then seventh-ranked John-Patrick Smith of Tennessee.
In addition to his singles rankings, Venus also posts as part of the No. 8 doubles team with freshman partner Neal Skupski. The Tiger tandem leads LSU in doubles with an 8-6 record.
LSU (6-8, 1-5 SEC) leads Florida in the all-time series between the two with a 26-22 record and defeated the Gators in the last meeting between the two teams. Last year as LSU hosted Florida, LSU claimed the early doubles point that lifted the Tigers to a narrow 4-3 upset of the Gators as LSU held the No. 19 position and Florida posted at No. 8.
LSU’s matchup against Florida will be its first SEC competition of the weekend. After taking on Florida on Friday, LSU will travel to Columbia, S.C. for a noon match on Sunday with South Carolina at the Sam Daniels Tennis Center.