BATON ROUGE, La. — After traveling to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff in College Station, Texas, where they earned their first ranked victory of the season, the No. 39 LSU men’s tennis team (3-1) returns to “Dub” Stadium for two weekend matches against No. 49 Purdue (2-2) and Wisconsin (1-2).
The Tigers will face Purdue on Saturday at 1 p.m. CST and Wisconsin on Sunday at 11 a.m. CST in Baton Rouge. Saturday’s match against Purdue will be the third consecutive ranked opponent for LSU.
“We are certainly looking to build on last weekend’s pefromance,” said head coach Jeff Brown. “We have had a good week of practice. We do not know [Purdue or Wisconsin] that well so it will be a challenge that way as well.”
Brown stressed the importance of starting strong in the doubles point and carrying momentum into the early singles sets. The Tigers lost one doubles point on the young season which resulted in their only loss against No. 18 TCU.
While starting fast is always nice, Brown and the Tigers know it will not always be the case when facing stout competition and are prepared to come from behind if necessary.
“In a perfect world, we like is to take the doubles point and win a bunch of first sets,” Brown said. “Ultimately you have to play the circumstance that arises.”
The Tigers showed they have the ability to do just that after falling behind in several first sets against San Diego before clinching the victory.
The team’s early success was noted by the ITA as LSU jumped six spots in the weekly rankings to No. 39. Coach Brown said the team is pleased with the recognition and motivated to keep moving up as they navigate the schedule with an eye on postseason qualification.
“Moving up is a good thing,” Brown said. “It is still early but that is certainly the way we want to go. The more we take care of business against quality teams like San Diego and Purdue, the more we will continue to rise and that will take care of itself come NCAA time.”
The weekend will provide the Tigers with an opportunity to earn a win against a ranked non-conference opponent. That experience will prove invaluable in postseason play.
“It is important to get a little variety in competition against players we do not know as well,” said junior Andrew Korinek. “It is good to get used to it so you are not forced into it during the postseason.”
Saturday’s match also marks the beginning of a nine-match home stand that will stretch thirty days until Sunday, Mar. 1. LSU plans to take advantage of their home court and notch as many wins as possible in the process.
“Ït feels great,” said sophomore Eric Perez. “Home-court advantage is definitely huge and we can’t wait to play.”
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.