BATON ROUGE – After picking up its second SEC win of season on Friday, the LSU men’s tennis team will look to keep its momentum going on Sunday when the Tigers square-off against the 38th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs at 1 p.m. CDT at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
The Tigers (5-7, 2-1 SEC) defeated No. 22 Ole Miss 4-2 on Friday at home, while the Bulldogs (6-5, 2-1 SEC) enter the match after notching a road conference win over Arkansas on Friday.
“After the big win over Ole Miss we now have to turn our attention to a good Mississippi State team,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “Mississippi State is a very talented team so it will be a tough matchup for us on Sunday.”
Mississippi State has wins over 23rd-ranked Vanderbilt, No. 62 Arkansas and No. 69 TCU so far this season.
The Bulldogs are led by a pair of ranked singles players, No. 72 Louis Cant and 92nd-ranked Artem Ilyushin. Cant is 6-3 in dual competition this season, competing mostly on Court 5, while Ilyushin enters the match with a 5-4 dual record. No Bulldogs are ranked in the doubles polls.
The Tigers are led in the rankings by the 17th-ranked duo of junior Neal Skupski and senior Sebastian Carlsson. The tandem is 9-3 at the top doubles spot this season, including big wins over the No. 1 and No. 5 doubles pairs in the nation.
Skupski is the lone ranked Tiger in the singles poll, coming in at No. 69. Carlsson clinched the match for the Tigers on Friday with a win on Court 5, and is currently riding a three-match singles winning streak for LSU.
The Tigers are 45-15-1 all-time against the Maroon and White and have won five-straight matches against the Bulldogs dating back to 2007.
For up-to-date information and behind the scenes access to the Tigers, fans can follow the LSU men’s team on Twitter @lsutennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis.