SAN ANTONIO, Texas – After a slow start to the day, the Lamar University men's tennis team rallied for six-straight victories to push its season-long win streak to six matches. The Cardinals (14-5/4-0 Southland) defeated Incarnate Word, 6-1, Sunday setting up a showdown for the Southland Conference regular-season title against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday in Beaumont.
 
The Cardinals struggled out of the gate dropping matches at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles to fall behind, 1-0. The 1-0 lead would be as close to victory as UIW would get as Big Red responded with six consecutive singles victories. The Cardinals not only won six straight in singles play, LU routed their hosts winning five of the six matches in straight sets.
 
"I think what we took away from today was that as long as you don't panic, there is time to recover from a setback in doubles play," said head coach Scott Shankles. "That is exactly how our guys responded. We lost in doubles but there was no fear, no panic. We knew there were plenty of matches to be played and the guys just went to work and we got out to great starts in all of the singles matches."
 
Sophomore Benny Schweizer pulled the Cards even with UIW in relatively short order. Schweizer bounced Incarnate Word's Tucker Brown, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 4 singles to even the score at 1-1. Junior Nikita Lis followed moments later with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Joey Vatanadilok on court two.
 
With the lead in hand, the Cardinals made certain not to surrender the momentum. Junior Michael Feucht locked up UIW's top player in a three-set match, while the rest of Big Red's lineup went about the task of dismantling UIW. The bottom of the order came through first to put the match away. After junior Jeandre Hoogenboezem picked up a straight-set winner at line five, classmate Juuso Laitinen slammed the door shut with his 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) winner over Ryan Hoverson at No. 6
 
The Red and White closed out the day with wins on courts 3 and 1, respectively. Freshman Sebastian Santibanez recorded a straight-set victory on No. 3, while Feucht finished off Josip Smoljan, 6-4, 5-7, 10-4, at No. 1 singles.
 
LU's victory now sets up a showdown between the league's two remaining undefeated squads Wednesday in Beaumont for the title. The match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is slated to begin at 3:30 p.m. from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
 
"We have a great opportunity to do something that has not been done on this campus since 1976," said Shankles. "A&M-Corpus Christi is a mentally tough team, physically strong and very well coached, but I believe we match up well in certain areas. Hopefully that will lead us to a championship."
 
Lamar University 6, Incarnate Word 1
San Antonio, Texas
April 10, 2016
 
Singles
1. Michael Feucht (LU) def. Josip Smoljan (UIW), 6-4, 5-7, 10-4
2. Nikita Lis (LU) def. Joey Vatanadilok (UIW), 6-3, 6-2
3. Sebastian Santibanez (LU) def. Francisco Bendana (UIW), 6-2, 7-5
4. Benny Schweizer (LU) def. Tucker Brown (UIW), 6-1, 6-1
5. Jeandre Hoogenboezem (LU) def. Sebastian Mortier (UIW), 6-4, 6-1
6. Juuso Laitinen (LU) def. Ryan Hoverson (UIW), 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)
 
Doubles
1. Smoljan/Bendana (UIW) def. Feucht/Schweizer (LU), 6-2
2. Hoogenboezem/Lis (LU) def. Vatanadilok/Mortier (UIW), 6-3
3. Brown/Hoverson (UIW) def. Laitinen/Santibanez (LU), 6-4