Final Stats

BEAUMONT - For the second-straight year, the Lamar men's tennis team advanced to the Southland Conference Tournament Championship game after a 4-1 semifinal win over New Orleans Saturday evening at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center.

Lamar (14-10) will take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the SLC title game at 2 o'clock, following the women's final of Nicholls and Northwestern State.

LU and UNO (10-11) faced off in the final regular season match, and the two took to the courts again on Saturday just six days later.

"We knew going into the match that New Orleans was going to play their best. They have five seniors and were going to do anything they could to keep their season from ending," said head coach Scott Shankles. "We were just focused on our side of the court, and that was a huge difference in the win today."

The Cardinals had to battle back for to claim the doubles point win, but Michael Feucht, Benny Schweizer, Mikko Rajamki and Juuso Laitinen surged the Cardinals to the point with wins on lines two and three.

Feucht and Schweizer downed Timo Kranz and Gonzalo Garcia 8-3 on line two, and improved their duo record to 6-4 on the year all from line two. Shortly after, Rajamaki and Laitinen took care of Romain Lefevre and Giacomo Adonecchia, 8-3, on line three.

LU only needed three points from singles to take the win, and it got those victories from courts one, two and three.

"Those three guys (Lis, Feucht and Schweizer) are very strong players. They feed off of and challenge each other," said Shankles. "It's no surprise that those guys came off the courts first because they're playing their best tennis at the right time."

Nikita Lis blew through his first set 6-0 on the way to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Kranz on line one. He bettered his season mark to 14-8 on the season, and clinched his fourth-straight win.

Feucht gave LU a 3-0 edge with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Garcia on court two. His season record moved to 16-7, which continues to tie with Schweizer's- who also won Saturday- season mark for the team's best.

"Michael and Nikita know what it takes to win," said Shankles. "They work hard in the weight room and on the practice courts, and that energy trickles down to the other guys."

Schweizer took his team-leading sixth match in a row on a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Rui Silva. The freshman's contest was the clincher.

"Benny was the SLC Freshman of the Year and is feeling good about himself," said Shankles. "He's hitting free. He is a completely different player from when he first showed up in January."

Lis and Jeandre Hoogenboezem lost their first doubles match of the season on an 8-6 loss to Silva and Blake Gregor. Lis as an individual is 17-1 this season in doubles, and the court one team is 10-1.

UNO's lone win was on line six with Adoncecchi's 6-1, 6-3 victory over Laitinen. Hoogenboezem and Leferve went unfinished on line four, and Rajamaki and Gregor were called on the fifth line.

"I'm very proud of our guys, they played outstanding tennis today," said Shankles. "Obviously it was a job well done."

LU and Corpus Christi squared off in the regular season at on the Islanders' courts. The 5-2 loss was the only loss the Cardinals had in league play.

"We just need to continue to do the things that we do best, and control our half of the court," said Shankles. "As long as we're in charge of our half of the court, we'll be emotionally, mentally and physically stronger, and if we do those three things then we have a great shot at winning (Saturday)."

The Cardinals started that match with a doubles point win, and Schweizer won his match on court three to account for LU's points.

Lamar 4, New Orleans 1