The anticipation is finally over. After a long wait, LSU is now home to one of the top tennis facilities in the country. The new LSU Tennis Complex features more than 150,000 square feet of space that includes indoor courts, outdoor courts, office space, locker rooms and training rooms.
The most important part of the new complex is the six indoor courts. The men’s and women’s teams have never had an indoor facility to practice or play in. For years, LSU was the only school in the Southeastern Conference to not have an indoor facility.
This has all changed with the state-of-the-art facility. There are no more disruptions to practice or matches due to weather. In past seasons, practices had to be moved to courts across the city or would be canceled all together.
“We are excited to get things started in the best facility in the country,” Julia Sell, co-head coach of the LSU women’s tennis team, said. “This makes things flow much easier for the student-athletes. Our practice and match schedule will be much smoother, and we do not have to worry about the weather anymore.”
Everything is centrally located at the LSU Tennis Complex. If a match is halted for any reason outdoors, there is no problem moving straight to the indoor courts. This smooth transition from outdoors to indoors was a special point of emphasis for both Sell and men’s coach Jeff Brown. After traveling to facilities across the country, both Brown and Sell helped in the design phase to create what was best for LSU.
The LSU Tennis Complex also allows coaches to host more tournaments. It used to be difficult to get teams from across the country to come for tournaments when there was no guarantee that all matches would be played. The men’s team opens the facility with the LSU Invitational this November and the women’s team will host the SEC Tournament in April.
“It is exciting for our student-athletes to play on our courts and have our fans,” Brown said. “The new facility is a wonderful place to watch a match. We hope to create the same type of atmosphere that we had at the old stadium.”
With practice underway and matches being played across the country, the most important thing for both teams is to use the facility to continue improvement from last season.
The women’s tennis team made history under Sell, who is entering her fourth season at LSU. The program reached the 20-win mark for just the third time in school history and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Senior Skylar Kuykendall and junior Joana Vale Costa won 30 matches last season. They became the 14th and 15th players in school history to win 30 matches or more in a season. It was only the fifth time in school history that two teammates have achieved the milestone in the same season.
“We are breaking new ground with our facility and the improvement of our program,” Sell said. “There has been a change in perception of our program around the country, thanks to the success we have had and the new facility.”
For the men, Brown is entering his 19th season, and he is the winningest coach in the history of the LSU men’s tennis program. Jordan Daigle and Boris Arias are fourth in the preseason ITA doubles rankings and lead the way for the Tigers. The duo earned All-America honors last season, joining 25 All-Americans in the annals of the program.
“They’re hot off of last year and Jordan leads,” Brown said. “The momentum that they brought from the first tournament of this year is huge. We are off to a good start and things are looking up.”
The two teams go into the 2015-16 season with a lot of confidence and pride. The new LSU Tennis Complex has already made an impact on the recruiting trail and will change both programs, thanks to the investment by the athletic department and the Tiger Athletic Foundation.
“We are thankful that the athletic department and TAF saw the need that we had,” Brown said. “They value the tennis teams and the investment in our facility shows that. This will have an impact for so many years to come.”