The three seniors on the No. 31 LSU men’s tennis team will say goodbye to W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium in the Tigers’ final home match of the regular season Saturday against Arkansas.Michael Venus entered the LSU tennis scene last season after transferring from Texas. Venus has a 35-17 career singles record and earned 2008 first-team All-Southeastern Conference, first-team All-Louisiana, Louisiana Player of the Year and Louisiana Newcomer of the Year. He also advanced to the NCAA Individual Championships in singles and doubles.”His work ethic has been the key to his success throughout his life and led to him landing All-American and being able to play at No. 1,” said LSU men’s tennis coach Jeff Brown. “He’s been a real treat to come out to practice each day and watch how hard he works.”James Cluskey, another 2008 first-team All-Louisiana selection, has made his mark for the Tigers in doubles. The Dublin, Ireland, native has amassed a 67-33 career doubles record, including 9-1 against top-60 opponents. He advanced to the NCAA doubles tournament round of 16 with former LSU player Ken Skupski in 2007, and he and Venus finished at No. 14 nationally in Cluskey’s second bid to the NCAA tournament in 2008. Cluskey has struggled in singles this season at the No. 2 spot behind Venus after playing at No. 5 last season, and Brown said playing at the higher level is a factor in his decreased performance.”He’s had to play a little higher in the lineup this year, understanding he would take some losses,” Brown said. “But he’s maintained his confidence and given us a lot of chances to win, which he’s been doing more regularly toward the end of the season.”Cluskey, who is 8-18 in singles play this season, defeated then-No. 29 Devin Britton in LSU’s loss Saturday to Ole Miss.”I haven’t done as well as I would have liked obviously, but you get better because of it,” Cluskey said. “If I can beat [Britton], I can beat pretty much anyone … when you play high, you really don’t get any easy matches.”LSU’s last senior Jonathan Tragardh has played in 38 matches in his career. Tragardh is coming off a three-set win against Mississippi State’s Tanner Stump, and he said he sees a bright future for LSU men’s tennis.”I see a really talented, hungry young bunch of kids,” Tragardh said. “Just the new freshmen alone are already breaking into the lineup. In the next couple of years, they’re going to be contenders in the top 3 to 5 spot.”LADY TIGERS TRY TO REBOUND AT ARKANSASThe LSU women’s tennis team will also play Arkansas in its final match of the regular season Saturday. The No. 22 Lady Tigers will travel to face the No. 14 Lady Razorbacks on the heels of a two-match losing streak against Ole Miss and Mississippi State last weekend.”We’ve been a little more up and down than [the Lady Razorbacks] have,” LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis said. “I expect a really tough match. The teams are very similar to last year when we beat them here and lost to them in the SEC tournament.”LSU is fourth in the SEC West, and Minnis said he attributes the team’s wavering intensity to an extremely taxing schedule.”We’re going to end up playing 18 or 19 teams who will make it to the NCAA tournament,” Minnis said. “When you have that kind of schedule and you have to get up that much, your intensity can be up and down. The road in the SEC is really tough.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]