BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's tennis team opened Southland Conference play Monday morning with the first match of a men's and women's doubleheader. The Cardinals took to the court at 10 a.m. to face Abilene Christian, but it was the visiting Wildcats who walked away with the victory. ACU recorded a 5-2 decision over the Cardinals Monday at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
 
"ACU has a very experienced team and they played great today," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "They played with confidence throughout the match. In doubles, we fell behind early on two of the three courts, but played even on line two. Unfortunately, the other two courts finished and we couldn't rally to give our twos a chance.
 
"That momentum didn't carry over into singles play for ACU at the beginning, because we took the lead on four courts. Unfortunately for us, we were unable to close out those matches with victories," added Shankles.
 
After dropping the doubles point, the youthful Cardinals found themselves playing from behind in a match that was originally scheduled to be played Saturday. Despite the early deficit, the Red and White bounced right back in singles play. Freshman Roy Stepanov got the best of Hunter Holman to tie the match at one. Stepanov took a part his opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.
 
The Wildcats responded with a victory on court four shortly thereafter to reclaim the lead, but ACU's advantage wouldn't be allowed to stand long. The Cards fought right back to tie the match up, and the victory came again from freshman class. Nicolas Mayr defeated Paul Michael Domanski in three sets, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.
 
With the match tied both teams needed to win just two of the three remaining courts for the team win and all three would go down to the wire. Big Red took the opening set on all three courts but ACU responded in the second set. Unfortunately, the Cardinals were unable to pull out wins in the third set on any of the courts dropping the 5-2 decision.
 
The Cardinals return to action Sunday to take on UT Arlington. The match against the Mavericks will begin at noon from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
 
-LU CARDINALS-