HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Lamar University Cardinals men's tennis team picked up their second win of the season, and moved back to .500 on the year with a 4-3 victory at Southern Mississippi Sunday afternoon.
 
The Cardinals have shown a flair for the dramatic posting a one-point victory in both of their wins this season. Although the Cardinals won by an identical score compared to their first win of the season, they had to follow a different path to get there.
 
"We had a chance to win the doubles point," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "We put ourselves in position to win but came up short in doubles. When we didn't win doubles there was some disappointment but they quickly put it behind them and got focused on singles. That was huge for us today. If we continue to put ourselves in a good position in singles we will be a tough team."
 
After falling in the tiebreak at No. 1 doubles, Southern Miss took a 1-0 lead into the singles competition. The Cardinals quickly rallied back in their first three singles matches to take a commanding two-point advantage. Freshman Sebastian Santibanez picked up a straight-sets victory over USM's Daniel Merker to tie things up at 1-1. Junior Nikita Lis gave the Cards their first lead of the day with his 6-1, 6-2 victory over the Golden Eagles' Wen-Po Tseng, 6-1, 6-2. Classmate Jeandre Hoogenboezem followed suit with a straight-set victory at No. 5 singles.
 
The next match to finish put a point on the scoreboard for Southern Miss, but that would be as close to victory has the home team would get. Junior Michael Feucht ended all of the suspense with his three-set victory at the No. 1 position. There was one final match remaining, and the Golden Eagles closed out the scoring with a three-set win at No. 6 singles.
 
The Cardinals return to action Sunday, Feb. 7, when they travel to Edinburg, Texas to take on UT Rio Grande Valley (formerly Texas-Pan American). The match against the Vaqueros will begin at noon.
 
"Our guys really have a good attitude about the all of the road matches," said Shankles. "It never comes up in conversation – we just focus on the next match. We have a week to prepare for a good UTRGV team. If we can shore up a few things I think we will be in good shape to play those guys."
 
LU vs. Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, Miss.
Jan. 31, 2016
 
Singles
1. Michael Feucht (LU) def. Tarun Surat (USM), 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
2. Nikita Lis (LU) def. Wen-Po Tseng (USM), 6-1, 6-2
3. Chao-Yu Huang (USM) def. Benny Schweizer (USM), 6-2, 6-3
4. Sebastian Santibanez (LU) def. Daniel Merker (USM), 6-2. 6-3
5. Jeandre Hoogenboezem (LU) def. Jorman Reyes (USM), 6-3, 7-5
6. Rakshit Rishi (USM) def. Steven McMullan (LU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
 
Doubles
1. Tseng/Huang (USM) def. Lis/Hoogenboezem (LU), 7-6
2. Feucht/Schweizer (LU) def. Reyes/Tortrakul (USM), 6-3
3. Merker/Surat (USM) def. Laitinen/Santibanez (LU), 6-4