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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis Travels To LSU And Arkansas This Weekend
3/24/2004 | Men's Tennis
March 24, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 4 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team (14-1, 5-0) begins a four-match road trip this weekend with a pair of matches against SEC Western Division foes LSU and Arkansas. First up for the Rebels, is a date with 13th-ranked LSU Friday at 4 p.m. at the Dub Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Rebels, winners of nine consecutive matches, are off to their best start since the 1996 squad started 20-1. They improved to 5-0 in the SEC with a pair of 5-2 wins over 12th-ranked Georgia and 21st-ranked Tennessee, last weekend.
"This is a big weekend for us, head coach Billy Chadwick said. "It's always tough to beat LSU at their place, but the guys are ready for the challenge. Arkansas almost defeated a very good Kentucky team this past weekend, and they have two of the top players in college tennis. In this league every match is tough, especially on the road."
Catalin Gard, who moved up to No. 4 in the latest national singles rankings, leads the team with a 13-2 record at No. 1 singles. He has won nine in a row and needs one win to record his 50th career dual match victory. At 5-0 in the SEC, Gard will face a pair of top-ranked opponents this weekend. Gard does not have a loss outside the top five this spring, with yesterday's new rankings. He and doubles partner, Paul Ciorascu, moved up to No. 8 in the rankings with a 10-4 record that includes a win over the No. 5 team in the nation.
LSU comes into the match with a 10-2 overall record, 2-2 in the SEC. They split their matches last weekend, losing to Kentucky, 6-1 on Friday and beating Vanderbilt, 5-2 on Sunday. The Tigers are led by freshman Ken Skupski, who knocked off Vanderbilt's 16th-ranked Chad Harris to earn his third victory over a top-50 opponent in three weeks. Skupski is ranked No. 28 in the nation with a 20-7 overall record, 6-3 at No. 1 singles. LSU's No. 1 doubles team of Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley is ranked No. 23 with a 5-4 dual match record. The Tigers' No. 3 team of Skupski and junior Peter Richman entered the poll for the first time at No. 34.
Ole Miss has won two in a row over LSU. The Rebels defeated the Tigers 5-1 last year in Oxford. The last time the two teams played in Baton Rouge (2002), Ole Miss claimed a 4-3 win.
On Sunday, the Rebels will travel to Fayetteville to take on the Razorbacks at Noon. Arkansas enters the weekend at 10-4 overall and 1-3 in the SEC. The Razorbacks are coming off a disappointing weekend in which they lost 7-0, to Vanderbilt and 4-3 to Kentucky. Against Kentucky, the Razorbacks won the doubles point, but struggled to maintain their lead. The Razorbacks are led by 10th-ranked Adrians Zguns and 83rd-ranked Nathan Price.
Ole Miss has won 14 in a row against Arkansas, including last year's 7-0 win in Oxford. The last time the two teams met in Fayetteville, the Rebels came away with a 5-2 victory.
LSU will be doing live scoring of Friday's match. Fans may follow the exciting action by going to the Ole Miss website at www.olemisssports.com and clicking on the link on the right side of the page.
