BATON ROUGE — The 16th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team looks to win its seventh non-conference match of the season on Wednesday, as the Tigers host the Texas-Arlington Mavericks at 2 p.m. in the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“Texas-Arlington has some very good talent at the top of their lineup,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “Their No. 1 singles player, Andy Leber, is ranked among the top 75 in the nation, and the rest of their lineup is strong. They’ve had some pretty good results this season and we can’t take them lightly just because they’re not ranked.”
LSU enters Wednesday’s contest with a 9-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark in non-conference matches. This season, the Tigers are undefeated at home versus non-conference opponents and have only relinquished five points in seven matches outside of conference play. LSU looks to rebound from Sunday’s heartbreaking loss to seventh-ranked Georgia, in which the Tigers forfeited an early 2-0 lead to fall, 4-3.
The Mavericks head into Baton Rouge riding the wave of a three-match winning streak. Texas-Arlington recorded victories over Wichita State (7-0), Columbia (4-3) and Centenary (7-0) in its previous-three matches.
The Maverick tennis team has accumulated a 10-5 overall record this season, as well as a 3-1 mark versus Southland Conference opponents.
Texas-Arlington is 5-1 while playing on the road this season. This will be the second meeting of all-time between the schools. In 1996, LSU blanked the Mavericks at home, 7-0, to pick up its ninth-victory of the season.
“We’ve been playing some good tennis lately,” Brown said. “Tomorrow, we need to keep up our intensity and keep playing at a high level. We also need to continue making some minor improvements in our game, which will enable us to take it to the next level.”
The Tigers’ 11th-ranked Ajay Ramaswami is coming off of a 7-5, 7-5, upset victory over Georgia’s seventh-ranked Matias Boeker in his previous-dual match, and is scheduled to face the Mavericks’ 67th-ranked Leber on Wednesday. Ramaswami has compiled an overall record of 19-11 this season, while Leber comes in at 20-11.
Dan Kiernan, LSU’s talented junior from Newcastle, England, is in the midst of a five-match winning streak. He has accumulated an 11-1 dual record and is undefeated in No. 2 singles play this season with a perfect 10-0 record.
The 16th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team is set to host the Texas-Arlington Mustangs on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. Admission is free to all LSU tennis matches.