April 17, 2005
Results
BEAUMONT - Five Lamar seniors saw their home finale end on a sour note Sunday morning, as the LU men's tennis team lost a disappointing non-conference match to #13-ranked Abilene Christian, 4-3, at the Cardinal Courts.
Sunday's loss was the second straight for Lamar, who fell to 9-12 on the year. The Cardinals finished the home portion of their schedule with a 1-3 record this spring. ACU, an NCAA Division II institution, improved to 18-8 on the year with the victory.
The match opened with doubles play where the Wildcats escaped with the team point after a fierce battle at the No. 1 spot. Both teams split the No. 2 and No. 3 matches, leaving the top match to determine the fate of the team point. LU's No. 1 combo of Dean Clower and Ignacio Melus fought valiantly against ACU's Jason Ray and Casper Steenkamp, battling to an 8-8 tie in the pro-set match. Despite a pair of match points, the Cardinal duo was unable to pull off the win, eventually losing by a 9-8 score.
Lamar's Emilio Kirby and Juan Pablo Alatorre upped their record to 12-6 at the No. 2 doubles position with a convincing 8-1 win over Evan Puglia and George Carstens. The Cardinal pair has now won five of their last six matches.
In singles play ACU quickly added another pair of points, posting straight set wins at the No. 1 and No. 5 spots. Lamar responded as seniors Christian Olivier and Kirby notched straight-set wins of their own at the No. 6 and No. 2 positions respectively. Olivier, a native of Mexico City, Mexico, easily defeated ACU's Kevin Beedy, 6-1, 6-3, while Kirby downed Steenkamp, 6-1 and 7-5. Kirby's victory snapped a three-match losing streak, while giving him a 9-11 record for the spring.
Melus, a native of Arica, Chile, pulled the Cardinals into a 3-3 tie with the Wildcats after he topped Ray in straight sets at the No. 3 slot. The 6-5 right-hander used a 7-5 tiebreaker victory to win the first set, 7-6, before finishing off the match with a 6-4 second-set win.
With the match in the balance, Clower went toe-to-toe with Carstens at the No. 4 position, in what proved to be the decisive match. Each player came away with a 6-3 win in the first two sets, forcing a third and final frame to determine an overall winner. Unfortunately, Carstens was able to emerge victorious as he pulled out a 6-4 win, which also sealed the team win for ACU.
LU now turns its focus to the Southland Conference tournament, which is set to begin on Fri., Apr. 22 in San Antonio. As the No. 4 seed, the Cardinals will take on No. 5-seeded Texas-San Antonio at 9:30 a.m. in the first match of the three-day tournament. The winner will face SLC regular-season champ Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
#13 Abilene Christian 4, Lamar University 3
Singles competition:
1. Artin Tafazoli (ACU) def. Juan Pablo Alatorre (LAMAR) 6-1, 6-2
2. Emilio Kirby (LAMAR) def. Casper Steenkamp (ACU) 6-1, 7-5
3. Ignacio Melus (LAMAR) def. Jason Ray (ACU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
4. George Carstens (ACU) def. Dean Clower (LAMAR) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
5. Evan Puglia (ACU) def. Emmanuel Olivier (LAMAR) 6-4, 7-6
6. Christian Olivier (LAMAR) def. Kevin Beedy (ACU) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition:
1. Jason Ray/Casper Steenkamp (ACU) def. Dean Clower/Ignacio Melus (LAMAR) 9-8
2. Emilio Kirby/Juan Pablo Alatorre (LAMAR) def. Evan Puglia/George Carstens (ACU) 8-1
3. Kevin Beedy/Bryce Hicks (ACU) def. Christian Olivier/David Wanja (LAMAR) 8-5
