The LSU men’s tennis team begins their final tournament this weekend before the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Kickoff Weekend.The No. 19 Tigers will travel to Auburn for the Auburn Spring Classic hoping to build on their performance in the Southeastern Conference Coaches’ Indoor Championships.LSU men’s tennis coach Jeff Brown said the Auburn tournament will help the team build momentum on indoor surfaces.”This tournament is like a part B of last week,” Brown said. “Both these tournaments have been indoors, just helping us with our preparation. We’re looking to build confidence, that’s the main thing, and get some wins. Now it’s for real, and it counts.”Brown said senior Michael Venus will not travel with the team to Auburn, after he reached the semifinals at the indoor championships.”[Venus] had so many long matches in the SEC tournament,” Brown said. “If he would have had a tough SEC tournament where he lost early or something, we probably would take him. But he did fine, and he got everything he needed out of it. The matches you have to play at No. 1 and No. 2 are hard enough, so we want him to be as fresh as possible.”Venus, who is currently No. 2 in the nation, lost as the top seed in the semifinal round to No. 8-seed Carlos Cueto of Florida. Both sets went to intense tiebreakers, with Cueto winning (7-6 (7), 7-6 (6)) on Monday.Venus said he was just eager to be on the court again.”It would have been nice to have won it, obviously, but it didn’t happen,” he said. “It was just important to start playing some matches again. I hadn’t done that for a while.”Venus also had success in doubles with freshman Neal Skupski. They reached the finals of the indoor championships, and Brown said the tandem inspires LSU’s doubles play.”They play with a lot of energy,” Brown said. “They’ve been such a spark for us. I can see them really helping us get some momentum going and keep up our energy.”Skupski is the brother of former LSU tennis player Ken Skupski, who is now on the professional circuit. Neal Skupski said his own experience at LSU has gone well so far, and the older players have helped him adjust and play to his potential.”I’ve had a good fall season. And then playing with [Venus], you learn a lot of confidence and experience,” Neal Skupski said. “My brother told me before I came just to work hard. When I arrived, I didn’t really have any friends. James [Cluskey], John [Tragardh] and Venus — the seniors — helped me learn really well.”Tragardh is seeing his first extensive action of his LSU career. He advanced to the round of 32 in singles and doubles last weekend.”It’s been great seeing hard work finally pay off and seeing some results come,” Tragardh said. “It’s exciting to be in a team atmosphere all the time. It’s what you look forward to when you start college, and it’s a good way to end it.”——Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]