LSU Gold

Men's Tennis Returns Home to Face Rice

by Alissa Cavaretta
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Men's Tennis Returns Home to Face Rice

BATON ROUGE- The LSU men’s tennis team will return home for a match against Rice Sunday at noon CT on the south courts in the LSU Tennis Complex.

The LSU women will also take on Rice at the same time on the championship courts.

Fans who attend Sunday’s match will receive a free LSU tennis t-shirt. Admission to all matches in the LSU Tennis Complex is free. Fans can follow the match at www.LSUstats.com and on Twitter @LSUtennis. 

Thoughts from the Co-Head Coach Chris Brandi
“It will be fun to play another match at the same time as our women,” co-head coach Chris Brandi said. “It should be a great atmosphere just like Friday was in New Orleans. Rice has had our number in recent years, and they are deeper than last season. We need to come out with energy and compete on every court.”

The Matchup
Rice holds the 19-17-2 overall advantage against LSU. Last season, the Tigers jumped out to the 3-0 lead but were unable to hold on as the Owls ran away with four consecutive singles wins in Houston.

Tiger Tidbits
LSU has a 5-1 record and is coming off of a massive 4-3 win at No. 17 Tulane. Sophomore Malik Bhatnagar clinched the match for the Tigers after trailing 5-2 in the third set. He has a team-best 5-0 record so far this spring.

Doubles duo Rafael Wagner and Joey Thomas remain undefeated on the doubles courts with a 4-0 record and win against the No. 1 pair in the nation.

Wagner is listed at No. 114 in the ITA singles rankings.

Notes on the Owls
Rice is 5-0 to start the season with all five wins coming at its home court. Last time out, the Owls secured a 4-0 win against Western Michigan in a Monday matinee match. Rice has yet to drop a doubles point this season.

Conrad Russell is the No. 111 player according to the ITA singles rankings, and Jacob Eskeland leads the Owls with 10 overall wins and a 5-0 record in the spring season.

Social Center
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.