LSU men’s tennis (4-0) is hosting a doubleheader on Sunday, where they will compete against Incarnate Word (2-1) and Rice (1-2). Two wins could up their win streak to six, something that hasn’t happened at the beginning of a season since they started 7-0 in 2005.
The last time the Tigers started 6-0, they finished the season 21-9 and had a doubles duo finish as the runners-up in the NCAA Doubles Championship (Mark Growcott and Ken Skupski). Getting to 6-0 doesn’t necessarily mean they will repeat something like that, but they would remain on track for their best start in a while.
To end up with a better start than that team, they would need to get to eleven wins without suffering more than one loss, which is definitely difficult when you have to face four ranked teams in that span. Even if they were to do that, Coach Chris Brandi would not be satisfied.
“There are years where you may play a super tough schedule at the beginning, and this is a unique year given corona[virus],” Brandi explained. “I wouldn’t look into it that much. It’s going to matter what we do at the end, not in January.”
They may be facing lower competition this weekend, but once again, these teams cannot be overlooked. Though the Tigers handled their only match against Incarnate Word in recent memory easily, Rice has been a different story.
They have faced the Owls in every season since 2007, with LSU leading the series 12-4 during that time period (including two wins over the Owls in the NCAA Championships in 2009 and 2017). Despite their clear success in the matchup, there’s a glaring hole between the years 2016 and 2018 in which the Tigers lost three of their four matchups with Rice.
LSU has won two straight matches against them since then, but those losses are still fresh in the minds of LSU’s older players and coaches. Brandi doesn’t take them lightly, stating that this match is competitive every year.
Brandi also mentioned that Rice has possibly had players sit out to quarantine, and they therefore have no idea who will lineup against them come Sunday.
“It looks like some of their guys were quarantined earlier in the year too, so we don’t know what lineup they’re going to play,“ Brandi stated. “So, it’s hard to plan, but we expect it to be a close match.”
He also compared the Owls to UTSA, who LSU defeated 5-2 last weekend. If they show up and take care of business early, the Tigers shouldn’t have too hard of a time with Rice.
A 6-0 start would be a slightly promising sign for a program that is still in the process of building themselves up to the level of other teams in the Southeastern Conference. However, after this weekend, things start to get a lot more difficult.
