BEAUMONT, Texas – The two-time defending Southland Conference champions, and 2017 SLC Co-Champion Lamar University Cardinals overcame a slow start in very tough weather conditions to defeat No. 3 New Orleans, 4-0, Saturday in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Championships. The victory guarantees LU (16-7) a spot in the championship match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a fourth consecutive season.
"Give credit to New Orleans, they came out with a lot of energy and had real good starts on all three doubles courts," said LU head coach
Scott Shankles. "Once we settled down and realized that, we were able to battle our way back into each match. It was very tough playing conditions this afternoon."
The doubles point came down to the last match as the two schools split the first two matches. The Privateers (7-11) took the first victory of the day with a 6-3 win on court No. 1. LU answered back at No. 3 doubles when the duo of senior
Juuso Laitinen and junior
Logan Powell defeated New Orleans' Luis Albuquerque and Giacomo Adoncecchi, 6-4.
The victory on court three left the outcome of the point squarely on the shoulders of line two doubles. The team of
Michael Feucht and
Benny Schweizer recorded a 6-4 decision against UNO's Jeffrey Hsu and Nicolas Kramer to give the Cards a one-point advantage.
Taking a small cushion into singles play, the Cardinals turned to their depth at the bottom of the lineup to begin pulling away from UNO. Junior
Benny Schweizer recorded a straight-sets victory, 6-3, 7-5, over Albuquerque at No. 5 singles to give the Cards a two-point advantage.
Senior
Juuso Laitinen had the Red and White knocking on the door of the overall victory when he posted an almost identical score to Schweizer's match. The Manheim, Germany native, recorded a 7-5, 6-3, victory over the Privateers' Adoncecchi on court 6.
Up by three and needing only one more point for the victory, the Privateers were trying to mount a rally on courts 1 and 2. UNO took the first set on court one, and had a slim lead in the second set, while Lis won his second set to force a third set.
Senior
Jeandre Hoogenboezem came through on court three closing out the matche for the overall victory. Hoogenboezem outlasted Federico Staksrud in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
The Cardinals return to action Sunday against top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland Championship match. The finals will begin at 11 a.m. from the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center. Admission to the championships match is free.
"It will be the fourth consecutive season that we've met A&M-Corpus Christi in the finals," said Shankles. "We're looking forward to the match. The Islanders got us last week at their place, and played a great match. We're excited to be able to play in front of our fans."
--LU CARDINALS--
