BATON ROUGE — The 20th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will return to Southeastern Conference play on Friday as the Tigers host the eighth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores at 2 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
“We’d definitely love to build on the momentum that we gained with the win against Texas,” said LSU head coach Jeff Brown. “It was a great atmosphere for a match and we’d like to continue that again tomorrow. It is a Friday afternoon match, but hopefully we’ll have some students out there cheering our guys on.”
LSU heads into Friday’s SEC cross-divisional matchup with a 9-5 overall record and a 2-4 mark versus conference opponents. In their previous contest, the Tigers gained some considerable momentum by defeating 16th-ranked Texas, 4-3, in a thrilling come-from-behind victory held in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
The Tigers’ five losses of the 2003 campaign have all come against opponents currently ranked among the top 20.
This season, LSU has dropped hard-fought matches versus No. 2 Florida, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 16 Alabama, No. 18 South Carolina as well as the 19th-ranked and defending Southeastern Conference champion Georgia Bulldogs.
The Tigers lost to both South Carolina and Georgia on the road by identical scores of 4-3.
Vanderbilt comes to Baton Rouge with an overall record of 13-2 on the season and a 4-2 mark against conference opponents.
The Commodores’ two losses of the 2003 campaign came on the road against No. 2 Florida, 4-3, and the 26th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, 4-3. Vanderbilt is currently in the midst of a three-match winning streak after posting convincing wins over Louisville, Mississippi State and the fifth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels.
“Vanderbilt is a very good team and they’ve played everybody tough this season,” Brown said. “They have two really good doubles teams that will match up well with us, so I think that the doubles point is going to be a toss up. We’re also going to have to try and get some big wins from the bottom of our singles lineup, because their top guys have been virtually unbeatable as of late.”
LSU will be led in Friday’s match by sophomore Peter Richman. The Tigers’ native of Toronto, Canada, was named the SEC Player of the Week on Tuesday and is currently the 38th-ranked singles player in the nation. He toppled Texas’ 28th-ranked Jean Simon on Saturday to improve to an overall record of 13-12.
Vanderbilt heads into the SEC matchup boasting three nationally ranked singles players including two of the top-10 players in the country. Bobby Reynolds, who has been victorious in each of his previous 22 matches, is currently the No. 2-ranked singles player, while Chad Harris comes in as the 10th-ranked player.
The 20th-ranked LSU men’s tennis team will attempt to knock off its second-straight top-20 ranked opponent on Friday as the Tigers host the nation’s eighth-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores at 2 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
Admission is free to all LSU home tennis matches and refreshments will be provided by the Tiger Tennis Athletic Foundation.