LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis and men’s coach Jeff Brown said their teams have played tough schedules up to this point.
It won’t get any easier this weekend.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will open Southeastern Conference play this Friday against Florida. The men will head to Gainesville, Fla., to face the Gators at the Sam Daniel Center.
“On average we play 22 matches, and 15 of them make the NCAA tournament. That’s pretty brutal,” Minnis said.
The No. 11 Gators (7-3) are the fourth top-15 team the Tigers have played this spring. Although the LSU men are 0-4 against those teams, Brown said the effort has been good against tough competition.
“We certainly have had a difficult schedule,” he said.”We put up a good effort [against Texas A&M]. … “We probably could have played better against Wake Forest.”
Brown said the doubles tandem of senior Sebastian Carlsson and junior Neal Skupski have been particularly impressive. Last week the No. 17 duo beat Texas A&M’s then No. 1-ranked team of Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek.
Skupski and Carlsson (17-5) have won seven matches in a row and will face Florida’s No. 20 team of Alexandre Lacroix and Nassim Slilam (16-7). Florida’s pair has been on a three-match losing streak and last won Feb. 12.
The Lady Tigers will also have their work cut out for them Friday when they host No. 1 Florida at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium. The match was originally scheduled for the afternoon but will now take place at 10 a.m. because of weather.
No. 52-ranked junior Whitney Wolf will face No. 7 Allie Will on court one. In doubles, Wolf seeks her first doubles win of the spring alongside her partner, sophomore Keri Frankenberger.
Wolf and Frankenberger (4-7) be playing Will and Sofie Oyen (16-4), who are ranked No. 1 in the nation. Will and Oyen are coming off a loss to Stanford’s No. 2 team of Hilary Barte and Mallory Burdette.
Frankenberger, who recorded her first singles win of the season against Xavier last weekend, said she has been looking forward to the challenge of facing Florida.
“We’re really excited about SEC play,” Frankenberger said. “It’s going to be a tough match, but I think we have what it takes to win.”
Following Friday’s matches, the Tigers will travel to Columbia, S.C., for a match against South Carolina at the Sam Daniel Center. The Lady Tigers will face South Carolina at home.