BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's tennis team is heading to New Mexico to compete in the Mountain Pacific Tournament, hosted by the University of New Mexico. The Mountain West Tournament is a two-day, eight-team field that will be played at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium and the Linda Estes Tennis Complex.
 
In addition to the Cardinals, the eight-team field will consist of host New Mexico, Hawaii, San Francisco, Wichita State, Grand Canyon, Pacific and Brown. The Cardinals will square off against Grand Canyon in the opening round of the tournament. The rest of the four-team pod for Big Red includes Pacific and Brown.
 
The Cardinals (1-6/.143) head to Albuquerque, N.M., looking to put an end to a two-match slide since their victory over Jacksonville State. Big Red's opening-round opponent, GCU, is 5-3 (.625) and is also looking to right the ship from some recent struggles. The Antelopes have dropped two of their past three matches. Saturday's match against the 'Lopes will begin at 11:30 a.m. (12:30 p.m. Beaumont time) from the Estes Tennis Complex.
 
Brown brings the best record to the four-team pod with a 10-2 (.833) mark. The Bears enter the weekend having won two straight, but their two losses have come in the past five outings against Harvard and Yale.
 
Pacific is 2-8 (.200) on the season, but is coming off an impressive 4-2 victory over UC Irvine last week. The victory over the Anteaters put an end to a five-match slide.
 
The semifinal round of the tournament will take place Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Times have not been announced for the championship round on Sunday.
 
The trip west will be the Cardinals final tune-up before opening Southland Conference play. Big Red will open the league portion of the schedule Saturday, Mar. 10 against Abilene Christian in Beaumont.
 
-LU CARDINALS-