BEAUMONT, Texas – After opening the season with three consecutive road matches, the Lamar University women's tennis team (1-2) returns to Beaumont to open the home portion of its schedule. The Cardinals will host Alcorn State in a doubleheader Saturday. The matches against the Lady Braves open a stretch that will see Big Red at home for four of the next five matches.
 
The Cardinals enter the weekend looking to end a minor two-match slide having dropped decisions at Rice and coming off a 6-1 setback at North Texas nearly two weeks ago.
 
Alcorn State heads to the Golden Triangle with just one spring match under its belt, due in large part to a lack of cooperation from the weather. The Lady Braves were supposed to open the season on Jan. 19 at Louisiana-Monroe, but had that match postponed. The makeup date has been set for Friday at 2 p.m. in Monroe. Following the match, the Lady Braves will hop the bus and make their way to Beaumont.
 
Alcorn State is currently 0-1 on the season with their lone match coming against Southland Conference opponent New Orleans. The Lady Braves were shutout in that match, 7-0. All six singles matches were taken in straight sets, and Alcorn was held to three, or fewer, games in 11 of the 12 sets with four shutouts.
 
Saturday's match against Alcorn State will be the first meeting since the 2015 season which was also a doubleheader. The Cardinals took both matches that day by a combined 11-2 score. Big Red is a perfect 7-0 all-time against the Alcorn with five of the matches being shutout victories.
 
Following Saturday's doubleheader, the Red and White will have two weeks to prepare for a trip to Edinburg, Texas to take on UT Rio Grande Valley, before returning home to open Southland Conference play. LU will take on Stephen F. Austin Saturday, Mar. 4^th, followed by a date with Northwestern State 24 hours later.
 
The first part of Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the second match starting at 2 p.m. Both matches will take place from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.