The LSU men’s tennis team completes the fall schedule this weekend at the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas. With the spring season on the horizon, the hype machine will start rolling next week.
The tournament begins Friday for the Tigers against Texas Christian University. Doubles play begins at 9:30 a.m. and is immediately followed by singles competition.
LSU will play Texas A&M on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The Tigers will conclude the weekend against Arizona on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
Last weekend, freshman Danny Bryan and senior Cory Ross capped the weekend at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajun Tennis Classic. The duo took home the doubles championship, upending ULL’s Amanjot Singh and Evghenii Corduneanu 9-8.
It was the second weekend in a row the duo won the doubles championship at a tournament. The tandem also won the title at Tulane’s Beau Holton Memorial Tournament in New Orleans.
As for the team’s overall performance during the fall, coach Jeff Brown said he is satisfied with the progress he has seen the team make during the season.
“We’ve seen good intensity each match they’ve gone into,” Brown said. “There are obviously lessons that have to be taught and learned. Overall, we’ve gotten a lot of intensity out of them and a lot of hard work and a lot of hustle. I think that’s gone over into practice, also.”
This weekend’s tournament will give the team a different look, Brown said. The team will compete together for the first time this fall – up until now, each tournament has been based more on individual results.
“We’re getting a lot of improvement each week, from tournament to tournament,” Brown said. “We’re looking to continue the same this week and with the format we’re using, we’re looking to get a little bit of a sense of team versus team [instead of individual results].”
With the conclusion of the fall schedule, Brown said the team needs to keep working at improving, especially with the spring season on the horizon.
“We haven’t really changed anything,” Brown said. “We haven’t looked to peak at any point during the fall. We’re going to continue to make changes to improve people’s games. Then, when it gets to be the spring – when it’s for all the marbles – we’ll be better for it.”