HOUSTON — The LSU men’s tennis team returns to the road to face Rice on Friday in a 1:30 p.m. CST matchup at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
LSU (0-2) trails Rice (3-1) in the all-time series 11-16, but took both matchups against the Owls last season. LSU edged out Rice 4-3 in the Tigers’ 2009 home opener and defeated the Owls in Baton Rouge once again when the Tigers hosted the NCAA Tournament and LSU advanced over Rice in the first round, 4-0.
LSU narrowly missed shots at No. 19 Louisville and No. 13 South Florida at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend last week when the Tigers dropped both matches by a 4-2 mark.
“We are looking to build on our performances last week against Louisville and South Florida” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We gained a lot of information from our first two matches. I feel like we’ve had a good week of focused practice, and we are looking to see that improvement against Rice with each player hopefully competing to the best of his ability.”
The matchup will showcase nationally-ranked players from both teams. No. 19 Bruno Rosa is 2-1 on court one for the Owls, and Rice’s 51st-ranked duo of Michael Nusslein and Christian Saravia are untested in dual competition.
LSU lists three of its players in the national singles rankings. Neal Skupski leads the way at No. 26 followed by No. 97 Sebastian Carlsson, and both are looking for their first dual-season victory. Julien Gauthier lists at No. 101, but his participation is questionable due to an injury that left him unable to compete with the Tigers last weekend as well.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its rankings on Thursday and posted LSU at No. 33 and Rice at No. 32.
The Southeastern Conference remained strong in the rankings and listed each of its 12 teams in the national rankings.
Tennessee recorded the highest ranking for the conference at No. 5 with Georgia ranking at No. 7 and Ole Miss rounding out the top-10 teams in the No. 10 slot. Florida posted at No. 11, Kentucky at No. 14, Alabama at No. 19 and Auburn at No. 28. South Carolina checked in behind LSU at No. 45 with Vanderbilt at No. 48 and Arkansas and Mississippi State finished the list at No. 51 and No. 61, respectively.
Feb. 5
#33 LSU vs. #32 Rice, 1:30 p.m.
Jake Hess Tennis Stadium
Men’s National Team Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Tennis
February 4, 2010
Rank. Team
1. USC
2. Virginia
3. Ohio State
4. UCLA
5. Tennessee
6. Baylor
7. Georgia
8. Texas
9. Stanford
10. Mississippi
11. Florida
12. Illinois
13. Pepperdine
14. Kentucky
15. Wake Forest
16. Louisville
17. Texas A&M
18. Florida State
19. Alabama
20. Virginia Tech
21. Duke
22. North Carolina
23. Arizona
24. Washington
25. Wisconsin
26. Fresno St
27. Miami
28. Auburn
29. Boise State
30. Oklahoma State
31. Tulsa
32. Rice
33. LSU
34. Notre Dame
35. California