BATON ROUGE — The No. 12-ranked LSU men’s tennis team received the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, which they play host to starting Thursday, April 19, it was announced by the league office on Sunday.
The Tigers (15-5, 7-4 SEC) will play the winner of the No. 5-seeded Tennessee Volunteers and No.12-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks on Friday at 5 p.m. This will mark the sixth time the Tigers have hosted the conference tournament and the first time since 1995 where they fell to the Georgia Bulldogs in the finals, 4-0.
“It doesn’t hurt to have an extra day of rest especially with the quality of teams that are in our conference,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “This tournament is a great opportunity for local tennis fans to come watch some of the best teams in the nation.”
LSU hopes to have a better showing at this year’s tournament as they were upset last year by the No.12-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs, 4-2.
Three other teams received first-round byes for this week’s tournament. The No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs received the top seed after going undefeated during the regular season. The No. 7-ranked Ole Miss Rebels received the No. 2 seed and the No. 17-ranked Florida Gators received the No. 3 seed.
The first match of the tournament will feature the No. 6-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide and the No. 11-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks at 8 a.m. on Thursday. The winner will face The No. 3-seeded Florida Gators at 8 a.m. on Friday.
The second match of the tournament will be the No. 10-seeded Kentucky Wildcats against the No. 7-seeded Auburn Tigers at 11 a.m. The winner will battle the No. 2 seeded Ole Miss Rebels at 11 a.m. on Friday.
The No. 8-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores will take on the No. 9-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs at 2 p.m. on Thursday for the right to play the top-seeded Georgia Bulldogs at 2 p.m. on Friday.
2007 SEC MEN’S TENNIS TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
April 19-22, at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium
Thursday, April 19
Match 1: #11 South Carolina vs. #6 Alabama 8 a.m.
Match 2: #10 Kentucky vs. #7 Auburn 11 a.m.
Match 3: #8 Vanderbilt vs. #9 Mississippi State 2 p.m.
Match 4: #12 Arkansas vs. #5 Tennessee 5 p.m.
Friday, April 20
Match 5: Match 1 winner vs. #3 Florida 8 a.m.
Match 6: Match 2 winner vs. #2 Ole Miss 11 a.m.
Match 7: Match 3 winner vs. #1 Georgia 2 p.m.
Match 8: Match 4 winner vs. #4 LSU 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 21
Match 9: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner 11 a.m.
Match 10: Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 22
Championship: Match 9 winner vs. Match 10 winner 1 p.m.
*All times central and subject to change.