BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University women's tennis team has qualified for the Southland Conference Women's Tennis Championships as the No. 8 overall seed. After missing the tournament last year, head coach
David Wong's youthful squad returned this year with a 9-11 (.450) overall mark and a 4-7 (.364) record in Southland Conference matches.
The SLC Championships will begin Friday, April 22, in Nacogdoches, Texas, with the championship match being played Sunday, April 24. All matches will be played at the Schlief Tennis Complex on the Stephen F. Austin campus.
The Cardinals enter the postseason looking to right the ship as they have dropped four consecutive matches, and five of their last six. The squad's last victory came against Sam Houston State in thrilling fashion. The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead and appeared to be on the verge of knocking out their opponent early. SHSU bounced back with three-straight points, before
Talisa Merchiers battled back from losing her first set to take the second set and eventually the match at No. 4 singles to give LU the victory.
LU will be led by sophomore
Andrea Ivanovic. A native of Serbia, Ivanovic has served as a team leader all season posting a team-best 11 singles wins during the spring. She was honored by the league Tuesday receiving honorable mention all-conference honors.
Big Red will open the championships against the league's No. 1 seed, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Friday at 2 p. m. The Islanders have not suffered defeat this season posting a perfect 20-0 record, including an 11-0 mark in Southland action.
Should LU get past A&M-Corpus Christi, they will face the winner of No. 5 New Orleans against No. 4 McNeese State. Both matches in LU's side of the bracket will get under way Friday at 2 p.m. The Cardinals dropped all three regular-season matches to the opponents in their four-team pod.
Friday's morning session will see No. 6 Southeastern Louisiana take on No. 3 Northwestern State, while tournament-host Stephen F. Austin (No. 2 seed) will square off against No. 7 Central Arkansas. The morning session will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday's semifinal round matches will begin at 2 p.m., with the championship match getting underway Sunday at 2 p.m.
-LU CARDINALS-
