BATON ROUGE — Senior Michael Venus and freshman Neal Skupski of the LSU men’s tennis team posted at No. 3 in the most current rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Tuesday.
The Tiger tandem posted an incredible an 11-7 record in regular season dual competition and is currently on a three-match win streak. Venus and Skupski’s most recent victory came as the duo squared off against Arkansas’ Blake Strode and Chris Nott. LSU’s top doubles team cruised to an 8-5 mark over Strode and Nott to notch a victory as the first off the courts for LSU.
Venus remained in the nation’s top-10 for the 14th-straight week and moved up one spot in the Campbell/ITA rankings to No. 6. The 6-3 senior posted an 11-6 record in dual action and holds an overall 16-7 record against nationally-ranked opponents.
LSU’s men’s tennis team posted at No. 30, sliding up a spot from the previous week after blanking league opponent Arkansas by a 4-0 mark in Baton Rouge on April 18. The Tigers finished the regular season with a 9-10 record and are 4-7 against Southeastern Conference contenders.
The SEC remained a dominant presence in the polls with all 12 teams posting in the rankings. Four teams continued a top-10 presence. Ole Miss represented the highest-ranked conference team at No. 2 in the nation. Following Ole Miss, Georgia posts at No. 4, Tennessee at No. 6 and Florida at No. 10, respectively.
As the SEC packs the polls, its teams are preparing for the conference tournament slated for April 23-26 in Auburn, Ala. LSU squares off against 28th-ranked South Carolina to begin tournament competition at 11 a.m. CDT on Thursday.
Men’s National Team Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
April 21, 2009
Rank School
1. Virginia
2. Mississippi
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. UCLA
6. Tennessee
7. Baylor
8. Stanford
9. Southern California
10. Florida
11. Texas A&M
12. Kentucky
13. Alabama
14. Illinois
15. Texas
16. Florida State
17. Pepperdine
18. Wake Forest
19. Auburn
20. Boise State
21. Oklahoma State
22. Arizona
23. Louisville
24. Virginia Tech
25. Miami (Florida)
26. Duke
27. Washington
28. South Carolina
29. Notre Dame
30. LSU
Venus-Skupski Team No. 3 in ITA Rankings