The LSU men’s and women’s tennis have a tough start to the spring. Both teams begin their spring seasons on the road against ranked teams and don’t compete at home until February.The No. 26 Lady Tigers travel to Boulder, Colo. on Saturday to compete against No. 57 Colorado.”I expect a really tough match,” said LSU women’s tennis coach Tony Minnis. “This team almost beat us last year. We squeaked out a win 4-3 against them.”The No. 19 LSU men’s team travels to Lexington, Ky. to compete in the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, which begin Jan. 16 and end Jan. 19.”The SEC is the toughest tennis conference in the nation,” said LSU men’s tennis coach Jeff Brown. “Our guys are ranked second [in the conference].”The Lady Tigers are led by seniors Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg. The duo, who won the Southwest Regional doubles title, start the season ranked No. 17 among doubles teams.”We’ve got two seniors that have a lot of success and have been around,” Minnis said. “We expect them to come out and send a message to the rest of the team.”Falcon, ranked No. 5 in singles, said she feels confident in her team despite playing an opponent who she rarely competes against.”They are in a different conference, so I don’t get to see them much in regular season play,” Falcon said. “But I feel confident in our team.”The men are led by seniors Michael Venus and James Cluskey. Venus was recently given the No. 2 national singles ranking heading into the spring season, while Cluskey finished his fall break winning Ireland’s RSA National Indoors doubles championship. Cluskey said his tournament in Ireland should help him for SEC Indoor Championships.”Obviously at LSU it’s tough when there are no indoor courts,” Cluskey said. “It’s good that when I was at home I was able to hit indoors a lot.”Brown said his team will use the SEC Indoor Championships and the Auburn Invitational, which begins Jan. 23, to prepare for the difficult team season and the Jan. 31 match-up against No. 21 Texas Tech.”These next two weeks are about preparing for that tournament,” Brown said. “It is a great way for us to great ready for the team season, which is a little tougher for us this year.”–Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]