April 15, 2012

Box Score

EDINBURG, Texas - The Lamar University men's tennis team picked up its first Southland Conference victory of the season with a 5-2 decision at Texas-Pan American on Sunday.

"This was an absolute gut check for us," Lamar coach Scott Shankles said. "Our singles matches were huge today. We lost the doubles point again, but the guys came out strong in singles. We were not going to leave without a fight."

Rob Lee, Denis Ermiov, Marton Horvath and Carlos Valdenebro won in straight sets at first through fourth singles, respectively, while Mikko Rajamaki rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 decision over Victor Alves at No. 6 singles.

"I'm really proud of Mikko today," Shankles said. He has struggled of late, but bounced back nicely to get another win."

With the win, Lamar 7-10 overall, 1-3 Southland) stayed alive in the battle for a berth in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Cardinals close out the regular season by hosting Texas A&M Corpus-Christi at 2 p.m. Thursday. Lamar needs a win over the Islanders on Thursday and a Nicholls win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday to qualify for the tournament.

LAMAR