BEAUMONT, Texas – For the second time this season, the Lamar University men's tennis team has defeated a nationally ranked foe. The 68^th-ranked Cardinals (13-5) needed only four singles matches following a thrilling doubles-point to defeat the No. 28 Rice Owls, 4-1, Saturday at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
 
The victory also extends the Cardinals current win streak to five, its longest since the 2004-05 season.
 
"We respect Rice a great deal," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "That's a great program who is very well coached. They've had the upper hand in this series for a long time, but we've continued to get closer the last few years. We felt like if we continued to work at our game we could eventually beat this guys. We felt confident coming in and I think it showed on the court."
 
Although it was the Red and White that got the upset team win, it was the Owls who pulled the first shocking win of the day. Rice got an early jump in doubles competition after the team of Tommy Bennett and David Warren defeated LU's nationally ranked team of Michael Feucht and Benny Schweizer, 6-2, on court one.
 
The Cardinals rallied on their other two doubles courts as junior Juuso Laitinen and freshman Sebastian Santibanez recorded a 6-3 win on court three. That victory placed all the pressure on juniors Nikita Lis and Jeandre Hoogenboezem to score the point, and they were locked in a close battle. The match couldn't be decided in regulation as it went to a tiebreak. The Cardinals' duo got the advantage and held on for a 7-6 (7-5) victory over Rice's Jamie Malik and Adam Gustafsson.
 
"Doubles is so important in the collegiate format," said Shankles. "If you can get on the board early, you're giving the other teams a strong chance to get the point. Even though we lost the first match of the day, we took the victory at No. 3 doubles just a couple minutes later and our No. 2 doubles team just kept battling and hanging in there. In the end, we came up with some big shots which enabled us to win the match at get the point."
 
LU didn't waste much time in adding to its advantage. Lis faced little resistance putting away Bennett at No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-1, to give the Cards a 2-0 lead. The Owls answered back with a victory of their own at No. 3 when Gustafsson defeated Santibanez, 6-1, 6-4.
 
The court three win would be all the offense LU would allow as it locked up the victory with wins on courts one and four, respectively. Both Feucht and Schweizer avenged their doubles setbacks with wins in singles play to ice the match. Feucht finished first with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Jamie Malik, while Schweizer closed out the win with a 7-5, 6-3 decision over Rice's Jake Hansen, 7-5, 6-3, at No. 4.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they have very little time to celebrate the win, because they now travel to San Antonio, Texas for a match against Incarnate Word. The match against the Southland Conference's other Cardinals will begin at 1 p.m.
 
"This was a big win for our program, but for us everything comes down to conference," said Shankles. "We still have two matches remaining and next is UIW tomorrow. They have a very young, talented team to mix in with some veteran guys and it is going to be tough. We've seen these guys play so we know how tough of a match it will be, and we need to be ready to play."
 
#68 Lamar University 4, #28 Rice 1
Thompson Family Tennis Center – Beaumont, Texas
April 9, 2016
 
Singles
1. Michael Feucht (LU) def. Jamie Malik (Rice), 6-4, 7-5
2. Nikita Lis (LU) def. Tommy Bennett (Rice), 6-2, 6-1
3. Adam Gustafsson (Rice) def. Sebastian Santibanez (LU), 6-1, 6-4
4. Benny Schweizer (LU) def. Jake Hansen (Rice), 7-5, 6-3
5. Jeandre Hoogenboezem (LU) vs. David Warren (Rice), 6-7, 6-1, 1-0 Unf.
6. Juuso Laitinen (LU) vs. Emmanuel Llamas (Rice), 7-6 (7-5), 4-5, Unf.
 
Doubles
1. Bennett/Warren (Rice) def. #41 Feucht/Schweizer (LU), 6-2
2. Hoogenboezem/Lis (LU) def. Malik/Gustafsson (Rice), 7-6 (7-5)
3. Laitinen/Santibanez (LU) def. Llamas/Hansen (Rice), 6-3
 
-LU CARDINALS-