BATON ROUGE — The No. 13-ranked LSU men’s tennis team looks to capture a weekend sweep when it host Auburn Sunday at 1 p.m. at the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.
LSU (14-4, 6-3 SEC) has been dominant at home this season with a 10-1 record at the “Dub.” Most recently, LSU handily defeated No. 12-ranked Alabama, 5-2, on Friday.
Head coach Eric Shore is in his 17th season in leading the Auburn Tigers (11-7, 4-4 SEC.) Auburn defeated Arkansas, 5-2, on Friday.
“Our team understands how important these last two matches are,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “Theses two matches will help prepare us for postseason play and we want to take full advantage of that.”
With only two matches remaining in the regular season, LSU hopes to maintain its position as one of the top four teams in the Southeastern Conference. The top four teams will receive a bye in the conference tournament, which LSU hosts this season. Currently LSU sits 3rd in conference standings behind Georgia and Ole Miss.
The victory on Friday was the first time this season that LSU has won without capturing the doubles point. LSU has been dominant in doubles play, winning the doubles point 14 out of their 18 matches. LSU has swept the doubles competition seven times this season.
Leading the way in doubles has been the No. 9-ranked duo of Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston. The LSU pair has won 29 of their last 31 matches, including four wins against ranked teams. The 19-ranked team of James Cluskey and Ken Skupski has also performed well this season. The tandem has compiled a 19-8 record and has won three straight matches.
Skupski picked up a monumental win in singles on Friday. The two-time All-American defeated Alabama’s Joseph Jung for his 100th career victory. The win places Skupski tied with head coach Brown for 4th place on the LSU career singles wins list. The Liverpool, England native is seven wins shy of tying for third place.
Junior Kevin Dessauer has been LSU’s most consistent threat. The former walk on is one of three Tigers, including Bryan and Skupski, to compile 20 wins so far this season. Dessauer has won four straight matches.
LSU will close out the regular season Saturday, April 14, against Arkansas at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.