BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University women's tennis team will look to get back in the win column Wednesday when it steps on the court for a Southland Conference battle against Sam Houston State. The match against the Bearkats will open a stretch of three matches in five days for the Cardinals, including two in Beaumont.
 
Big Red will travel to Waco, Texas Friday for a date with No. 50 Baylor. The Cards will then be back in Beaumont Sunday for a 10 a.m. match against Abilene Christian.
 
Both home matches are scheduled to take place at the Thompson Family Tennis Center on the LU Campus. Wednesday's match will begin at 2 p.m., but due to the threat of rain in the area, there is a chance the match could get moved to the indoor courts at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center. The match at Baylor will get under way at Friday at 10 a.m.
 
The Cards (8-7/3-4 Southland) will look to get back to the .500 mark in conference action after a disappointing loss at league-leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last time out. LU is currently ninth in the league standings just a loss back of Northwestern State for the eighth and final playoff spot. Despite the setback at Corpus Christi, Big Red has won five of its last seven outings.
 
Wednesday's opponent presents a Sam Houston State team that is in a similar position as LU. The Bearkats are 10^th in the Southland standings just a match back of LU. The Bearkats (7-9/2-5 SLC) have dropped four of the last five matches, but are coming off a three-point victory at Incarnate Word.
 
The Bears (7-11) enter the week having won three of the past four matches, and are coming off a 4-2 victory over Northwestern. Prior to its current success, Baylor had been struggling dropping eight-straight matches.
 
The Cardinals close out the week with a match against Abilene Christian. The Wildcats come to town as one of the league's hottest teams. ACU is currently second in the Southland standings with a 3-1 (.750) conference record, and bring an 11-4 (.733) overall mark into the match. The Wildcats have won seven of the last eight contests, with their only setback during that stretch being a one-point loss at Southeastern Louisiana. The Wildcats are coming off a three-point victory over McNeese State a week ago, but will face Northwestern State, Incarnate Word and Sam Houston State before traveling to Beaumont.
 
-LU CARDINALS-