BATON ROUGE — The sixth-ranked LSU tennis team will host the No. 7 Florida Gators in its toughest home match of the season on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m.
“This is a match that will go a long way in determining the conference champion,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “These are two of the elite teams in not only the conference, but the nation, so the level of tennis on Tuesday will be very high.”
The Tigers are led by seniors Tom Hand, Michal Chmela and Ed Rubin. Hand is ranked 21st in the nation while Chmela is 27th. Rubin, despite not being ranked is 3-1 against ranked foes on the year.
Coming to LSU as the Gators top singles player is defending NCAA singles champion Jeff Morrison. Florida has two other players ranked among the nation’s top 30.
“Florida has one of the best singles line ups in the nation led by Morrison,” said Brown. “But he is not their only weapon, we will have to play well at every position.”
LSU enters the match with a nine-match conference winning streak dating back to last season. The Tigers also have a 10-match home winning streak over the same period of time.
The Tigers have also won the point awarded for doubles in a school-record 20 straight matches.
“It is a nice streak to have, but it doesn’t mean anything once we step on the court. Florida is tough in doubles so we will have to work extremely hard to win the point.”