The LSU men’s and women’s tennis teams have an opportunity to qualify individual athletes for the ITA National Indoor Championships at the ITA Southern Regionals this weekend.The men and women can qualify by winning the singles or doubles finals. The National Indoor Championships are Nov. 5-8 in New Haven, Conn.”It’s a very exclusive tournament and really difficult to get into,” said LSU men’s coach Jeff Brown.The men’s draw starts Thursday in New Orleans and ends with the finals on Sunday.The top eight players from the men’s team will compete in singles and doubles during the weekend.Brown said the doubles pairs are sophomore Neal Skupski with freshman Stefan Szacinski, sophomore Mark Bowtell with sophomore David Roberts, junior Cody Loup with freshman James Turbervill and junior Julien Gauthier with junior Sebastian Carlsson.”It’s probably the biggest tournament that we go to in the fall,” Carlsson said.Carlsson said his goal is to make the finals or semifinals.”I’m just trying to come up with good game plans in every match and be more calm,” he said.The tournament is set up as one 128-man singles draw. But Brown said there will be fewer than 128 people competing.”There will be quite a few byes in the first round because there’s about 89 people in it,” Brown said. “Most of our guys will start out in the round of 64.”Skupski is the Tiger favorite after a solid outing at the All-American tournament in Tulsa, Okla., making it to the third round and defeating No. 5-ranked Georgia Tech junior Guillermo Gomez in the first round.”I could have qualified at the All-American if I had made the semifinal, but I fell short and lost in the round of 16,” Skupski said.Skupski said he’s confident he can pick up where he left off in this weekend’s tournament.”I had a good tournament in Tulsa,” Skupski said. “Hopefully I can build on that and make national indoors.”Both the men’s and women’s tournament will include teams from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”From the SEC, it’s Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State and us,” Brown said. “It’s five teams that are very strong.”Brown said there is still talent at some of the smaller schools in the region.”Generally for most of the other schools there’s a good No. 1 at least,” he said. The women’s tournament starts Friday in Auburn, Ala. The women have a qualifying draw and then a singles draw of 64.Senior Nicole Kantor said Auburn doesn’t have a significant advantage despite being at home.”Obviously tennis, it’s not like the crowd’s going to have a big impact,” she said.Kantor is teaming up with sophomore Whitney Wolf in doubles. Kantor and Wolf made it to the round of 16 at last season’s regionals.”Our game matches up well for doubles,” Kantor said.Freshman Kaitlin Burns is pairing with freshman Ebie Wilson, and freshman Keri Frankenberger is teaming up with junior Kylie Adamek to complete the Lady Tigers’ doubles teams.LSU assistant coach Lisa Jackson said Wolf could end up taking the title.”I think Whitney’s made some strides, and she’s got the kind of game that she can beat anybody on any given day,” she said. “We’re looking for her to really step up.”But Jackson said it’s not just about winning and losing.”The biggest thing we’re looking for is a great attitude, a fighting spirit and representing LSU the best the girls can,” Jackson said.—-Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]