LUBBOCK, Texas - The Lamar University men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought match on Saturday afternoon as they were defeated by New Mexico in a 6-1 decision to open the 2019 regular-season.
 
"We had too many slow starts today that put us in positions of needing to come from behind," remarked head coach Scott Shankles. "We competed in the second half of the doubles matches and were close to securing the doubles point. Unfortunately, in singles play, we lost five first sets and could not recover," stated coach Shankles. "We played with some nerves, but New Mexico played solid. We will have a quick turnaround as we play a very strong Texas Tech team tomorrow, which will help the guys in not overthinking the match today for tomorrow."
 
In doubles action, the Cardinals were defeated on court No. 1, 6-3, but could still get the doubles point by taking the next two matches. On court two, Nicolas Mayr and Arthur Serafim won the second doubles, 6-3. The doubles point came down to the matchup in third doubles. In a tight battle, the Lobos edged the Cards, 7-6 (2), in a tiebreaker taking a 1-0 lead over LU.

Leading 1-0 and entering singles action, the Lobos took control of the match. New Mexico took a 3-0 lead after Dominic West defeated Patrick Fleischhauer, 6-1, 6-2, on court two. LU found themselves down 3-0 after Ricky Hernandez Tong won on court one, 6-1, 6-3, over Axel Vila Antuna.
 
New Mexico clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-2 victory on court six that saw Facundo Bermejo defeated Brock Lauer.
 
Lamar took its' only point of the match on court number three. Nicolas Mayr took set one 6-4 over Karlo Divkovic. Mayr followed with a 6-3 second set victory taking the match and claiming the only point for the Cardinals.
 
On the final two courts, belonged to the Lobos. Nicolas Prieto defeated Arthur Serafim 6-3, 6-2. The final match was on court four between Stepan Holis and Joshua Taylor. Holis took set one 6-2 over Taylor. Holis battled back and did not go down without a fight. Taylor forced a tiebreaker in the second set before he was defeated 7-6 (3).
 
The Cardinals return to action Sunday when they take on Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. The match is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.