BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Men’s Tennis team will begin the 2026 season on the road at nationally ranked No. 25 Clemson on Jan. 16. The all-Tigers matchup will take place at the Duckworth Family Tennis Facility at 4:00 p.m. CT.
The Tigers will host a doubleheader in their home opener at the LSU Tennis Complex on Jan. 18, featuring South Alabama at 1:00 p.m. CT, followed by Jackson State at 5:00 p.m. CT.
Attendance at all LSU matches at the LSU Tennis Complex is free. Attendees will be required to comply with the university’s clear-bag policy.
“We’re really looking forward to getting the season started,” said Head Coach Danny Bryan. “Clemson has a very strong team again this year. We know they are well coached and have no holes in the lineup, so we will have to have a complete team effort to get the win. This will be a great opportunity to see where we are at right out of the gate.”
Coach Bryan enters his fourth year, focused on advancing the program after the team’s 12-17 overall record in the previous season. Upon bringing in three new Tigers, LSU enters 2026 with seven returners, setting the foundation for this young, talented squad.
Set to begin his junior year, Alessio Vasquez has already established himself as a key contributor for the Tigers. Last season, he appeared on singles courts No. 1-4 and notched 15 singles victories. His campaign was highlighted by wins over 2024 NCAA Champion, Alabama’s No. 14 Filip Planinsek and Texas’s No. 19 Sebastian Gorzny. Vasquez’s strong performance earned him Second Team All-SEC honors.
Fellow juniors Rudy Ceccon and Charles Hobbs also represent the most tenured players on the roster. Competing on courts three through six, Ceccon posted seven victories throughout the season. Alongside that, Hobbs registered a perfect 4-0 doubles record over the spring season with wins on all three courts.
Sasa Markovic hit the ground running in his opening season in Baton Rouge, leading LSU in singles wins on courts one and two, capturing nine total in the spring. Andrej Loncarevic, on the other hand, dominated primarily on courts four and five, but picked up wins as high as court two. Each recorded eight doubles wins on the season, six of which came battling alongside each other as partners.
Sophomore Enzo Kohlmann de Freitas posted a winning record on singles courts three through six, with 11 total victories on the season in his first season as a Tiger. He also tallied eight doubles wins, including a win in his only court one appearance.
Second-year teammate, Calin Stirbu, also found success in doubles action. He made appearances on courts two and three, where he logged three doubles victories on the season.
One of the three newcomers is also the program’s lone senior. Matias Ponce de Leon, the Alabama transfer, led his team in singles wins during the 2024 season with 28 victories and was named to the All-SEC Team. Previously ranked at No. 76 in singles and No. 83 in doubles by the ITA, Ponce de Leon seeks to establish himself at the top once more, this time in the purple and gold.
Also new to the squad is freshman Erik Arutiunian. The Belarus native has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of 415. Additionally, he currently holds a career-high ATP singles ranking of 430. Arutiunian has secured two ITF professional titles as well, at M15 Sharm El Sheikh (2025) and M15 Tashkent (2024)
The final addition to the lineup is Poland native, Olaf Pieczkowski. The freshman comes to LSU with a career-high singles ranking of 455 with three ITF professional titles under his belt. In addition to his 2023 singles title at the M15 Szczawno, his two doubles titles were captured in the 2025 editions of the M15 Monastir and M15 Oslo.
With each freshman holding multiple professional titles and being ranked inside the ATP top 500, they strengthen the Tigers’ roster with proven firepower.
Clemson enters the season ranked No. 25 nationally, coming off a 22-8 season where they went 8-5 in conference play. Their season ended in a 4-2 loss to Columbia University in the second round of NCAA Regionals. The program returns six players, as well as bringing in five freshmen to round out their 11-man roster. Head Coach Brandon Wagner also returns for his third season, looking to build off his most successful campaign. Over its decades-long history, the series is split 7-7 after LSU tied it up in their last meeting, which took place in 2012.
Following a 9-12 overall record and going 5-2 in conference last season, South Alabama visits LSU, bringing five returners and two freshmen. Head Coach Nick Brochu enters his 16th season at the helm of the Jaguars, carrying his 212-135 record with him. Head-to-head, LSU leads with a near-perfect 8-1 record.
Jackson State enters the Bayou to face off against the LSU Tigers after coming off a 9-11 campaign with a 4-2 conference record. Six returners and two freshmen make up the roster, led by first-year Head Coach Stas Smirnov. After a two-year stint with Alcorn State, Smirnov will make his debut against an LSU team that is 5-0 all-time against the program.
For more updates, follow @LSUTennis on Instagram, Facebook, and X.