BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team is set to begin its final weekend of home matches on Friday, as the Tigers host the Mississippi State Bulldogs at 4 p.m. at the W.T “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“Mississippi State has a very strong lineup, they are a very talented bunch of players and they present us with a formidable challenge at some positions,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We’re going to have to play better than we have been playing at some positions and we’re going to need a couple of guys to step it up a level in order to get the win.”
LSU heads into Friday’s Southeastern Conference matchup with an overall record of 5-11 on the season and an 0-8 mark against conference opponents.
Last weekend, the Tigers suffered hard-fought losses on the road to seventh-ranked Kentucky 4-2 and Vanderbilt 4-3.
The Bulldogs come to Baton Rouge with a 9-8 overall record on the season and a 2-6 mark against SEC foes. Mississippi State’s two conference victories on the year came in close matches against Kentucky 4-3 and Vanderbilt 4-3.
The Tigers will be led on Friday by senior Dan Kiernan. Kiernan is currently the 89th-ranked singles player in the nation and owns an overall record of 15-13.
With a singles victory against Mississippi State, LSU’s 2001 SEC second-team performer will move into a tie for the 18th-winningest player in Tiger history. Kiernan has the opportunity of evening former LSU great Hal Gorman’s mark of 76 career singles victories on Friday.
Mississippi State boasts the services of two of the nation’s top-100 ranked singles players and the 24th-ranked doubles tandem. Romain Ambert comes in as the seventh-ranked player in the nation, while the Bulldogs’ Rene-Charles Combette owns the No. 78 ranking. The two also combine to form the No. 24-ranked doubles team.
In last season’s annual contest between the two SEC enemies, Mississippi State rallied to a 5-2 victory at home at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. With the win, the Bulldogs ended a three-match losing streak against the Tigers and cut LSU’s lead in the all-time series to 35-14-1.
The LSU men’s tennis team looks to earn its first SEC victory of the season on Friday, as the Tigers entertain the Mississippi State Bulldogs at 4 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium. Admission is free to all LSU home tennis matches.