NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Lamar University men's tennis team took an early lead after the doubles competition and never looked back defeating New Orleans, 6-1, Friday afternoon in Southland Conference action. Big Red (4-10/1-1 SLC) put an end to a three-match slide and pulled even in conference action.
 
The Cardinals' jumped out of the gate quickly flexing their muscles in doubles competition. The team of Sebastian Santibanez and Arthur Serafim picked up a quick victory on court No. 1, followed moments later by a win from seniors Logan Powell and Benny Schweizer at line two doubles. The two doubles victories gave the Red and White a 1-0 lead and they never looked back.
 
"We had strong starts in doubles getting up early in two of the three," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "They had a little bit of a run to catch up, but we didn't panic and closed the deal. We carried that energy into singles and that really set the tone for the rest of the match. Our guys were relentless in singles this afternoon."
 
The Cardinals never surrendered that momentum in singles action picking up the first four matches of the afternoon, and took all five of their singles' wins in straight sets, with freshman Carlos Paton Canal being pushed to a tiebreak in the second before taking the win. Canal's victory was just icing on the cake as LU already had the overall match won by the time he finished.
 
Schweizer gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead with his 6-1, 6-3, victory over UNO's Alexis Guedy on court No. 2. Serafim fell right in line behind Schweizer to record an almost identical result, 6-2, 6-4, over the Privateers' Johannes Klein at the No. 3 spot.
 
Serafim's victory put the Cards just one win shy of snapping the three-match slide, and the Cardinals wouldn't have to wait long for the clinching win. LU turned to No. 4 singles where Powell was too much for UNO's Nicolas Kramer. Powell edged Kramer in the opening set, 6-4, and followed with a 6-3 victory in the second set.
 
The Privateers' lone point came at No. 1 singles, in a tough three-set match, but that win came after freshman Nicolas Mayr gave the Cardinals a 5-0 lead with his victory on court No. 5.
 
The Cardinals will have a quick turnaround for their next opponent. Big Red will host Alcorn State Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Thompson Family Tennis Center in Beaumont.
 
"This is definitely not an easy turnaround, but it just happens to be the way the schedule fell for us," said Shankles. "We are not the only team in the country that has to deal with quick turnarounds – it's just part of the game. Our focus is to get home, get some rest and get after Alcorn State the same way we did UNO."
 
-LU CARDINALS-