BEAUMONT, Texas – Led by 2017 Southland Conference Player of the Year,
Katya Lapayeva, the Lamar University women's tennis team closed out a successful 2017 campaign recording a 16-7 (.696) overall record to earn the league's No. 2 overall seed after going 8-3 (.727) in conference action. The team's strongest performance since the 2011 season, LU's 16 wins ranks among the top-six single-season performances in program history.
The Cardinals will put that record on the line Friday when they host No. 7 seed Sam Houston State in the opening round of the Southland Conference Championship tournament. The Bearkats closed the regular season with a 9-12 (.429) overall record which included a 6-5 (.545) mark in conference matches.
Sam Houston enters the tournament having dropped two of its last three matches, but is coming off a one-point decision over Southeastern Louisiana to close out the regular season. The Bearkats recorded one of their biggest wins of the season at the beginning of the month when they recorded a 5-2 upset against LU in Beaumont.
The Cardinals loss to Sam Houston was the first of three consecutive losses – the team's longest stretch without a victory this season. Big Red rebounded from its minor three-match skid to close the year with three consecutive wins, including victories in 10 of its last 13.
If the Cardinals get past SHSU in the opening round, they will face the winner of the No. 3 Central Arkansas (19-6/8-3 SLC) vs. No. 6 Northwestern State (13-8/6-5 SLC) match. The Cardinals recorded wins over both programs during the regular season, but both of those matches were played in March.
The other half of the bracket will consist of top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi facing No. 8 seed Stephen F. Austin, and fourth-seeded McNeese taking on the league's No. 5 seed New Orleans.
The Cardinals match against SHSU will begin at 10 a.m. from the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center, while the other half off the bracket will kick off at 2 p.m. The Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center has four covered courts that can be used in case of rain, but start times could be delayed in that scenario. Admission to all matches is free.
-LU CARDINALS-
