AUBURN, Ala.— Coming off of a solid week at the ITA All-American Championships, the LSU men’s tennis team looks to build on its performance as it opens play in the 2016 ITA Southern Regional Friday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The team will take on members from Alabama, Auburn, Jacksonville State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Nicholls State, Samford, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Troy, Tulane and UAB.
“It will be good to have the team travel together for the first time this year,” head coach Jeff Brown said. “It is time to create more team chemistry as the spring dual match season approaches.”
The Tigers will have three new pairs taking the doubles courts as freshman Agie Moreno and junior Gabor Csonka are set to begin competition against Troy’s Hassah Ndayishinye and Jiaqui Duan in the round of 64.
Senior Justin Butsch and freshman Rafael Wagner are the eight seed and have a first round bye along with the six-seed pairing of senior Jordan Daigle and freshman Julian Saborio.
In singles competition, Moreno will compete against Alabama’s Ritchie Kruunenberg. Saborio will take the court against Jacksonville State’s Matthew Chaim, and sophomore Nikola Samardzic will square off against Tulane’s Luis Erienbusch.
Bustch, Csonka, Daigle and Wagner have earned byes in the singles main draw as each is seeded in the tournament and will begin play in the round of 64 Friday afternoon.
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.
2016 ITA Southern Regional
Oct. 14-17 at Auburn, Ala. (Yarbrough Tennis Center)
Friday, Oct. 14
Singles Round of 128
Agie Moreno (LSU) vs. Ritchie Kruunenberg (Alabama), 12 p.m. CT
Julian Saborio (LSU) vs. Matthew Chaim (Jacksonville State), 12 p.m. CT
Nikola Samardzic (LSU) vs. Luis Erienbusch (Tulane), 10:30 a.m. CT
Singles Round of 64
No. 35 Jordan Daigle (LSU) vs. Shao Chun Liv (Jacksonville State)/Clement Marzol (South Alabama), 2:30 p.m. CT
No. 48 Justin Butsch (LSU) vs. Gabriel Niculesw (Troy)/Chris Wilkins (Southern Miss), 2:30 p.m. CT
No. 125 Gabor Csonka (LSU) vs. Felix Morck (Jacksonville State)/Jonathan Star (Tulane), 2:30 p.m. CT
Rafael Wagner (LSU) vs. Austin Racine (Troy)/Chase Schupp (Tulane), 2:30 p.m.
Doubles Round of 64
Agie Moreno/Gabor Csonka (LSU) vs. Hasah Ndayishinye/Jiaqi Duan (Troy), 8 a.m. CT
Doubles Round of 32
Justin Bustch/Rafael Wagner (LSU) vs. Max Sinn/Shasha Prodgursky (Nicholls State)/Conner Huertas/Eopy Nguyen(Auburn), 9 a.m. CT
Jordan Daigle/Julian Saborio (LSU) vs. Paolo Cucalon/Pablo Caffarena (Jacksonville State)/Andre Baldo/Gabriel Niculescu (Troy), 9 a.m. CT