BATON ROUGE — The 12th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will go out of conference Friday afternoon to host in-state rival Tulane in a 2 p.m. match at “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
“Tulane has been playing well as of late. They had a couple of nice wins,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “The history of their program and has built a great rivalry between us and we are excited to play them.”
LSU is fresh off a 7-0 victory over Alabama that is the latest win in the Tigers three-match win streak.
Leading LSU into battle will be junior Ajay Ramaswami and seniors Michal Chmela and Tom Hand. Ramaswami owns a team-best 12-1 dual match mark and has not lost a singles or doubles match in LSU’s last five times out.
“Ajay is playing with a lot of confidence. He is using his speed and his mental toughness very well, which are his two main weapons. He has just been a fighter for us,” said Brown.
Hand and Chmela are each ranked among the nations top 35 players and anchor the top two spots of the Tiger line up. Chmela has beaten two top 30 players in a row.
Just one year ago, the two teams met in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge. The Tigers took that match 4-1 to advance to the round of 16 in Athens, Ga., where they eventually reached the Final Four.
LSU will also be in action on Sunday when it hosts South Carolina at Noon.