BEAUMONT, Texas – Winners in three of its last four, the No. 72 Lamar University men's tennis team will take a short break from Southland Conference play to face UTSA Tuesday afternoon. The Cardinals' (9-5/1-0 SLC) match against the Roadrunners will begin at 1 p.m. from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
The Cardinals are coming off a dominant performance in their last outing. Big Red made quick work of Nicholls, 7-0, in the conference opener. After taking the doubles point, the Cards stormed through singles play sweeping all six matches to shutout the Colonels.
LU is one of the three teams tied atop the Southland standings with a perfect 1-0 record but comes into the match with UTSA looking for its first win against the Roadrunners. LU is 0-21 (records only date back to the 1968 season) all-time against UTSA, a mark which includes two close setbacks last season.
LU faced the Roadrunners twice last season – once on the road and one at a neutral site – and forced the matches down to wire but came up short in both outings. The Roadrunners edged LU, 4-3, in both meetings.
UTSA has found the 2016 campaign to be one of the more difficult in program history. The 'Runners are 3-14 (.176) on the year, and have yet to win a match away from San Antonio. The Roadrunners have lost three of their last four and 11 of their last 13, but are coming off a 4-1 victory over Incarnate Word on Good Friday.
As a team, the Cardinals have been among the ITA national rankings for the last two weeks. This past week the doubles team of junior
Michael Feucht and
Benny Schweizer also joined the national rankings. The Cards' top-ranked team opened the week ranked 43
rd.
LU enters Tuesday's match looking to protect their perfect 3-0 home record this season with wins over Prairie View A&M, Oral Roberts and Nicholls. Admission to all LU home matches is free.
The Cardinals return to Southland action Friday, April 1, when they travel to New Orleans, La., to take on UNO. The match against the Privateers will begin at 2 p.m.
-LU CARDINALS-
