BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s tennis team will split in two Thursday as they begin their fall tournament play when the Tigers travel to Gainesville, Florida, for the Southeastern Conference Fall Classic and Lafayette for the Cajun Classic.
Head coach Jeff Brown is traveling to Gainesville with freshman Simon Freund, sophomores John Michael Busch and Justin Butsch, and juniors Boris Arias and Harrison Kennedy. The group will also form two doubles teams comprised of Freund and Butsch along with Busch and Kennedy.
“Most of the top teams will be represented at the SEC Fall Classic,” Brown said. “It has historically been one of the better tournaments in the fall. People that are able to get a few wins can really set themselves up for a nice fall. We are looking to get as much out of it as possible and get as many matches as we can with singles and doubles.”
Assistant Coach Danny Bryan will travel to Lafayette along with sophomore Jordan Daigle, juniors Andrew Korinek and Tam Trinh and senior Chris Simpson. Simpson and Daigle will form one doubles team, and Trinh and Korinek will form the second doubles team for the Tigers at the Cajun Classic.
“Lafayette is a resurrection of the Rolex tournament from the 80s, and it also has one of the better fields in the fall,” Brown said.
The Tigers are looking forward to a strong start and have pegged both of these events as crucial in building early momentum.
“These two events will have several of the top teams and players,” Brown said. “There will be plenty of opportunities at both events to make a lot happen.”
The SEC Fall Classic opens play on Friday at 7 a.m. CT at Linder Stadium Ring Tennis Complex, and the Cajun Classic opens at 9 a.m. on Thursday at the Cajun Courts.