BEAUMONT, Texas – At the beginning of the day the 2018 Southland Conference Championship tournament was a question mark, by the end of Thursday's match it was an exclamation point. Lamar University needed to defeat Nicholls Thursday to have a chance to defend their SLC tournament title, and the Cardinals didn't make their fans wait long to celebrate defeating Nicholls, 7-0, at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
 
Thursday's victory over Nicholls assured the Cardinals of the No. 4 seed in the Southland Conference Championship tournament which will take place at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center beginning Saturday, April 28.
 
"It was a win or go home situation for us today and our guys understood that," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "I'm very proud of the fact that we won given the situation. We are headed back to the conference tournament in front of our fans. It's always great to advance to the tournament, especially when you're hosting."
 
The Cardinals blasted their way out of the gate taking the doubles point in dominant fashion. An area that has been a struggle at times for Big Red this season, LU picked up a quick win on court No. 3 to knock the pendulum in their favor, and closed out the point with a victory on court No. 1. Just for good measure, the Cardinals also had a one-game lead at the No. 2 position.
 
"We've struggled all year with doubles," said Shankles. "We tried mixing things up and going with different combinations. We've had to work a little bit more on our doubles in practice this season. It was great to see the guys get the job done."
 
For a team that finished its previous match less than 24 hours prior to the start of Thursday's competition, the Cardinals showed no signs of fatigue. The Cardinals raced out to quick wins on courts 4 and 1, respectively, to back Nicholls into a corner.
 
Senior Logan Powell picked up the first singles' win, followed by classmate Benny Schweizer. Powell posted identical set scores to defeat Nicholls' Lewis Cox, 6-2, 6-2. Schweizer recorded the next win just moments later defeating Nicholl's Oleksander Podgursky, 6-0, 6-3.
 
The two singles wins gave the Cardinals a commanding 3-0 lead, needing just one win on the remaining four courts for the overall decision. The clincher came from junior Sebastian Santibanez on court No. 2. As if a mirror image of the match played at No. 4 singles, Santibanez ousted Tobias Lentz, 6-2, 6-2, for the fourth point.
 
Although the Cardinals had the victory in hand, the two teams played out the remaining three matches. Two of the three were force to third sets but the Cardinals won both in a super tiebreak format. Freshmen Arthur Serafim, Nicolas Mayr and Carlos Paton Canal picked up the three remaining victories.
 
The Cardinals open SLC tournament action against the league's other Cardinals – Incarnate Word – Saturday, April 28, at 2 p.m. If the Cardinals defeat UIW, they will face the winner of the No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. No. 3 Abilene Christian match to advance to the NCAA Championships.
 
"Our only focus now is UIW, nothing else matters," said Shankles. "UIW is a great team. They play hard every point, they stay focused and work well together as a team. The good thing is we already know a lot about them because they have an older lineup. Now we have to go out execute."
 
-LU CARDINALS-