BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 45 LSU men’s tennis team (2-0) will travel to College Station, Texas, to participate in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The Tigers were originally scheduled to open play on Friday before their match was postponed due to inclement weather in the area.
LSU will face No. 33 San Diego at noon on Saturday. Other teams competing include No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 37 Texas Christian University (1-0). Depending on the outcome against San Diego, the Tigers will play in either the championship match at 3 p.m. CST or the consolation match at noon CST on Sunday.
After their dominating opening weekend which saw them defeat Lamar 6-1 and earn their first 7-0 sweep of the season against Nicholls State, head coach Jeff Brown and the Tigers are looking forward to facing some ranked opponents at the ITA Kickoff.
“San Diego is a ‘pick ’em’ kind of match,” Brown said. “TCU is probably a team that will finish top ten in the rankings along with A&M. We are focusing on the San Diego match for now. If we can get through that then we will move forward to the next one with confidence.”
The team had an especially energized week of practice and everyone is excited for the opportunity to get some quality wins, said sophomore John Michael Busch.
“It’s really important because we get to see the level where everyone else is at,” Busch said. “I think all of these teams will be top-25 teams at the end of the year so it is good to get two matches at that level before we continue throughout the season.”
Despite the caliber of competition, the Tigers are not feeling pressure. Sophomore Justin Butsch said they trust their training and are confident enough to know if everyone plays their part, good things will happen.
The Tigers are familiar with A&M’s Mitchell Tennis Center as they competed in the Conference Challenge there during the Fall. Coach Brown credits that experience and familiarity with building the team’s confidence going into the ITA Kickoff Tournament, which will take place at the Mitchell Center.
“This year we expect ourselves to do a lot better than last year so there is a little pressure that way,” Butsch said. “We have been working hard and doing the right things so it is not like we are nervous. We know we have done everything we can to try and get the win.”
For up-to-date information and behind the scenes access on the Tigers, fans can follow the LSU men’s tennis team on Twitter and Instagram at @lsutennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis