NEW ORLEANS, La. – Although the Lamar University men's tennis team had to wait 24 hours to play the match due to the weather, the Cardinals wasted little time taking care of New Orleans Saturday morning. LU jumped out to a 3-0 lead and cruised to a 6-1 victory over UNO in the Big Easy. With the victory, the Cardinals remain undefeated in Southland Conference play (1-0).
 
Each of LU's five singles wins came in straight sets, except for No. 1 singles but the match was already decided when junior Michael Feucht picked a thrilling three-set victory. Big Red recorded three shutout sets Saturday, and held the Privateers to three games or fewer in nine of the 16 sets.
 
"This was a good solid match overall," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "We got off the court quickly in doubles and that set the pace for the rest of the day. Line three doubles won quickly, and Nikita (Lis) and Jeandre (Hoogenboezem) followed shortly after.
 
"In singles play we got down early in a couple of matches, but took the lead on four of the six courts. We held those leads and finished them off," added Shankles.
 
After helping clinch the doubles point, junior Jeandre Hoogenboezem added to that lead when he bounced UNO's Nicolas Kramer in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 5 singles. Hoogenboezem's doubles partner, Lis, was the next Cardinal off the court but his day didn't get out to the best start.
 
Lis stumbled out of the gate trailing, 3-0, in the opening set before flipping the momentum on his opponent. With his back against the wall, Lis rallied to win 12-straight games to defeat the Privateers' Giacomo Adoncecchi, 6-3, 6-0, on court two.
 
"Nick was down love-3 and then won 12-straight games," said Shankles. "Nik made a few too many errors in the first two games, but cut those down and then just ran away with it."
 
UNO finally dented the scoreboard with a victory at No. 3 singles trimming the Cardinals lead to 3-1, but Big Red quickly ended any thoughts of a home team rally. Junior Juuso Laitinen capped the team win with a straight-sets victory at No. 6 singles – although he was forced to take the second set in a tiebreaker.
 
Laitinen barely broke a sweat in his opening set with a 6-1 decision over New Orleans' Karim Shokeir at the sixth position, but Laitinen was in for a battle in the second. The Kuopio, Finland native had to go to a tiebreaker to win the match, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2).
 
LU closed out the match with wins from sophomore Benny Schweizer at No. 4 singles and Feucht at No. 1.
 
The Cardinals return home Sunday for a 10 a.m. match against the Abilene Wildcats. The match against ACU is a schedule doubleheader with the LU women. 
Singles
1. Michael Feucht (LU) def. Jeffrey Hsu (UNO), 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
2. Nikita Lis (LU) def. Giacomo Adoncecchi (UNO), 6-3, 6-0
3. Gonzalo Garcia (UNO) def. Sebastian Santibanez (LU), 6-1, 6-2
4. Benny Schweizer (LU) def. Luis Albuquerque (UNO), 7-5, 6-4
5. Jeandre Hoogenboezem (LU) def. Nicolas Kramer (UNO), 6-0, 6-3
6. Juuso Laitinen (LU) def. Karim Shokeir (UNO), 6-1, 7-6 (7-2)
 
Doubles
1. Albuquerque/Hsu (UNO) vs. Feucht/Schweizer (LU), 5-4
2. Hoogenboezem/Lis (LU) def. Adoncecchi/Shokeir (UNO), 6-3
3. Laitinen/Santibanez (LU) def. Garcia/Kramer (UNO), 6-0