After falling short of a weekend sweep on the road, the No. 25-ranked LSU men’s tennis team returns to the friendly confines of the W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium to face South Florida today at 3 p.m. The Tigers (8-4, 2-2) rolled past Western division rival Alabama, 5-0, on Friday before suffering a 5-2 loss to No. 27 Auburn on Sunday. With two weekends of Southeastern Conference play in the books, LSU will settle in for a week-long homestand against four out-of-conference opponents in South Florida, Illinois State, No. 68 St. John’s and No. 2 Ohio State. “I’ve liked this team’s competitiveness,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “Our doubles play has been a little bit up and down, so we need to find something that’s going to work there over the course of the next four matches.” Despite inconsistent doubles play, the Tigers have managed to produce two nationally ranked duos. Junior Olivier Borsos and freshman Chris Simpson are the No. 38-ranked pair in the country, and senior Neal Skupski and sophomore James Turbervill make up the No. 39-ranked duo. In singles, Tom Knights continued his strong senior campaign over the weekend, as the lone Tiger to win both of his singles matches. The Tigers’ match against South Florida (3-9) will be the first of three out-of-conference matches at home this week that will serve as preparation for the stiffest part of LSU’s schedule, which begins with the second-ranked Buckeyes on Monday. “Going forward, the schedule gets very tough,” said Brown. “We have to be able to take any wins we can get coming up and defend our home as best as possible.” After battling injuries through an 0-6 start, USF has won three of five of its last matches, including a 5-2 victory against No. 75 Penn last Thursday. “[South Florida] is a good team, but they’ve struggled a bit,” Brown said. “They’re in a kind of desperation mode with the schedule winding down a bit, and they’re a team that could, and should, make the NCAA tournament.”
 
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