BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s tennis team finished the season ranked in the top 25 for the 19th time in 20 years on Friday as the Tigers ended the 2003 dual-match season as the 24th-ranked team in the nation.
“This season was good for us in that we continued to improve from the beginning of the season all the way to the end,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “We finished the season ranked higher than we were when we began, and that was good because it was one of our goals.”
After starting the season as the 32nd-ranked team in the nation, LSU registered a 13-11 overall record and earned a second-place finish in the highly competitive Western Division of the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers were ranked as high as No. 17 this season despite boasting a team void of seniors and owning a starting lineup consisting of three underclassmen.”
“I think that with us adding two very good freshmen to our team next season and by not losing anybody, that we’re looking to have an even better year next year,” Brown said. “Our team has a lot of experience returning and we think that the sky is the limit for our chances in the years to come.”
Since 1984, LSU has finished the year ranked among the top 25 in all but one season and has recorded 11 top-10 finishes. In that time, the Tigers won three SEC Championships, qualified for two NCAA Tournament final fours and played in one National Championship match.
LSU has earned nine-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and has qualified for the prestigious postseason event in 19 of the previous 20 seasons. The last time that the Tigers did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament was in 1994 when they finished as the 22nd-ranked team in the nation.
“The consistency that we’ve shown over the past 20 years has been all about the people surrounding this program,” said Brown. “We’ve had extraordinarily dedicated players, coaches and fans over the years and that’s been the catalyst for our continued success as a team.”
The SEC had nine of its 12 teams finish the season ranked in the top 25 on Friday.
Florida, the 2003 conference champions, led the way as the second-ranked team in the nation, while Vanderbilt finished the dual-match season tied for fourth place and Ole Miss earned the No. 9 ranking. Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina ended the year ranked No. 15, No. 16 and No. 20, respectively, while Georgia, LSU and Auburn rounded out the nation’s top 25.
In the singles rankings, LSU’s Peter Richman concluded the season as the 62nd-ranked player in nation, while the Tigers’ duo of Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley closed out the 2003 campaign as the 21st-ranked doubles tandem in the nation.
Richman, the Tigers’ sophomore native of Toronto, Canada, ended the season with a 16-18 overall record and a 5-5 mark while playing at the treacherous
No. 1 singles position. The fiery lefthander beat some of the best players in the nation during dual play and finished with six victories over top-100 ranked opponents.
LSU’s doubles combination of Fisher and Hazley finished with a 22-11 overall record on the season.
Omni Hotels
Collegiate Tennis Rankings
Administered by the ITA
NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis
May 28, 2003
1 Illinois
2 Florida
3 Stanford
T4 Baylor
T4 Vanderbilt
6 UCLA
7 California
8 Ole Miss
9 Duke
10 Minnesota
11 Texas A&M
12 Washington
13 Texas
14 Tulane
15 Alabama
16 Kentucky
17 Ohio State
18 Virginia Commonwealth
19 Oklahoma State
20 South Carolina
21 TCU
22 Southern California
23 Georgia
24 LSU
25 Auburn