The fall season has been a challenging, yet rewarding time for the LSU men’s tennis team.
The season has allowed coach Jeff Brown to evaluate a team featuring only one senior. Friday presents another steep test against Illinois, Texas A&M and Texas Tech in the hidden dual format at the Texas A&M Invitational.
The Tigers will be traveling to College Station, Texas without sophomore Jordan Daigle and junior Andrew Korinek.
“Two of our top six won’t be there, so it will put people in a position that they’ll have an opportunity to play a little higher potentially than they have,” Brown said.
While the Tigers will be missing two of their top players, they will be boosted by the unexpected success of a new doubles pairing.
The Tigers saw success this past weekend from the ITA preseason No. 14 doubles pairing of junior Tam Trinh and sophomore Eric Perez, who reached the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southern Regional at Auburn University. It was only the second time this fall that the duo had competed together in a tournament.
“We compliment each other,” Trinh said. “I think our attitudes are great on the court, so that really helps.”
The singles performances of junior Boris Arias, senior Chris Simpson and sophomore Justin Butsch at Auburn also thrilled Brown.
“I can’t remember a year, really, where we have three singles players in the quarters in regionals,” Brown said. “We were very excited for that.”
It’s the kind of performance the Tigers will need against stiff competition this weekend. The Texas A&M Invitational will feature seven of the top 50 singles players and five of top 50 doubles teams from the ITA preseason rankings.
Perez recognizes the level of competition, but said the Tigers are focused solely on improving and sticking to their gameplan.
“I just think we are worried about ourselves right now,” Perez said. “Keep doing what we do and stick to our game plan, because our game plan is solid.”