Columbia, SC—The LSU men’s tennis team will head to South Carolina for the 2022 ITA Kickoff Weekend starting on Saturday, Jan. 29, and ending on Sunday, January 30.
ITA Kickoff Weekend
The ITA Kickoff Weekend features 60 of the best teams in college tennis at 15 host sites in groups of four. Host teams face the fourth seed while the second and third seeds compete in the first round, where the winners advance to the championship match. The team that wins their group advances to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on February 11 to compete against fellow group winners.
LSU will face SEC opponent South Carolina on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. CT at the Carolina Tennis Center. Depending on Saturday’s result, LSU will face either Duke or Liberty on Sunday.
The Tigers will be looking to improve since their last visit to ITA Kickoff Weekend in 2018 where they went 0-2 against Texas A&M (0-4), and Georgia State (2-4).
Scouting the Gamecocks
South Carolina has gotten off to a 4-0 start to their dual season with wins over Presbyterian College, Charlotte, and College of Charleston. They have three ITA top-125 singles players in No. 29 Daniel Rodrigues, No. 50 Toby Samuel, and No. 120 Beau Pelletier.
Scouting the Blue Devils
The Duke Blue Devils are 2-0 on the season with wins over Elon and North Carolina Central. They have two players ranked in the ITA top-125 in No. 38 Faris Khan and No. 76 Garrett Johns and have two ranked doubles pairs in No. 37 Garret Johns/Sean Sculley and No. 39 Michael Heller/Andrew Zhang.
Scouting the Flames
Liberty is 1-1 on the season with a win over William & Mary and a loss at No. 7 Virginia. The Flame ended last season at No. 39 in the final team rankings as they took home the ASUN Conference Championship.
Live video will not be provided this weekend, but live stats will be available and can be found below.
Saturday, Jan. 29
11 a.m. – LSU vs. South Carolina – http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=383022
Sunday, Jan. 30
LSU vs. Duke/Liberty – http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=384800
Last Time Out
LSU is coming off their dual season opener last Saturday where they went 2-0 against Incarnate Word. Graduate transfer Kent Hunter and junior Boris Kozlov both went 2-0 in singles, while all three duos (Vlad Lobak/Gabriel Diaz Freire; Kent Hunter/Boris Kozlov; Ben Koch/Nick Watson) went undefeated.
Follow The Tigers
For up-to-date information and behind-the-scenes access on the Tigers, follow the LSU men’s tennis team on Twitter and Instagram at @LSUTennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis.