COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Lamar University's magical run to the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships came to an end Friday afternoon as the Cardinals dropped a 4-0 decision to No. 5 overall seed Texas A&M at the George Mitchell Tennis Center. The Cardinals, who knocked off the top-two seeds in the Southland Conference tournament and had to win their final three matches just to keep playing closed out the 2018 campaign with a 10-14 (.417) overall record.
 
It was an uphill battle from the start for the young Cardinals, who have supplanted themselves as the league's most dominant program. Big Red entered the season having graduated four seniors – all four were All-Southland honorees, including a former league player of the year – and started the 2018 season with four freshmen.
 
Youthful exuberance quickly turned to frustration after a 1-7 start to the season that intertwined with numerous cancellations, postponements and rescheduled matches due to the weather. After the slow start, the Cardinals turned things around to go 9-7 over the course of their final 16 matches and become a team that played with poise and confidence in the SLC tournament.
 
"This has been a long journey," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "I'm really proud of these guys, and how they had to beat Nicholls just to get into the conference tournament. We were able to continue that momentum all the way through the SLC tournament.
 
"We knew coming into today this was going to be a tall task playing the fifth-ranked team in the country. We gave Texas A&M everything we had, and they were the better team. We have a lot of young guys on this squad, so we can learn from this match moving forward," added Shankles.
 
The Cardinals were simply outmanned in the opening-round of the tournament squaring off against a juggernaut that had four individuals ranked among the top 72 in the nation, including two in the top 12, and all three doubles teams were ranked among the nation's top 65.
 
It was the Aggies strength in doubles that gave the host school the early 1-0 lead and it was a lead they didn't relinquish. Texas A&M picked up wins on courts 2 and 3 to take the point, but after getting a quick win at court two, the home team was forced a little deeper into the count to earn the win on three. LU's freshman tandem of Nicolas Mayr and Roy Stepanov had a one-game lead midway through the set before the Aggies rallied for the win.
 
Court number three was the first to finish a set in singles competition, as junior Logan Powell dropped his opening set, but he battled back to grab an early 2-1 lead in the second. While Powell surged out in front of his opponent, junior Sebastian Santibanez edged in front of A&M's Arthur Rinkerknech on court two taking a 5-4 lead late in the opening set.
 
Unfortunately, neither Powell or Santibanez would have the ability to finish out their matches as the Aggies picked off straight-set winners on courts 1, 5 and 6 for the victory. Friday's match marked the third consecutive year that Big Red's season ends at the NCAA Championships.
 
"It felt amazing to get to this point again in my career," said senior Benny Schweizer, who played in his final collegiate match Friday, becoming just the third Cardinal to play in three NCAA Championship tournaments (former players Michael Feucht and Nikita Lis qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championships in 2015). "This year was very different than the previous two. We really didn't have that strong of a regular season, and had to win on the final day just to qualify for the conference championships. We played the whole conference tournament as underdogs in front of our own fans and wound up winning it. It feels weird knowing that my collegiate career has come to an end."
 
-LU CARDINALS-