WACO, Texas – Mother Nature slowed down the opening round of action in the 2019 ITA Regional Championships Friday morning in Waco, Texas. Due to the rain in the area, the matches were forced indoors on six courts. The Cardinals finished the day with seven victories, including three in doubles competition.
 
The team of senior Brock Lauer and Blessing Benibo got the Cardinals out to a strong start in doubles competition with their 8-4 victory over Prairie View A&M's Juan Malham Viada and Rodrigo Yoshikata. The duo returns to the court Saturday morning to face Texas' Jacob Bullard and Evin McDonald. Juniors Carlos Paton Canal and Joshua Sundaram added an 8-6 decision over SMU's Gardiner Perotti and Jordi Redelijk.
 
Big Red's final doubles' victory on the day came from junior Nicolas Mayr and sophomore Axel Vila Antuna. LU's duo posted an 8-3 victory over Texas Tech's Reed Collier and Franco Ribero.
 
Due to the inclement weather, the singles matches didn't get finished until late in the evening with the very last match of the day consisting of LU's Brock Lauer. Sundaram gave LU its first singles victory of the day with a win over a Southland opponent. After picking up a 6-2 decision in the first set against Abilene Christian's Sebastian Langdon the Wildcat player was forced to retire in the second. Paton Canal followed with a straight-sets decision over PVAMU's Malham Viada, 6-2, 6-4.
 
Big Red rookie Filippo Salsini picked up one of the biggest wins of his young career defeating SMU's Blaise Fagan, 6-1, 6-3 in his first match of the day. Senior Sebastian Santibanez also squared off against a Mustang and posted a similar result. He defeated SMU's Jack Kite in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.
 
Assuming there are no further weather delays, players will return to the courts Saturday at 8 a.m. for the second round of action at the ITA Regional Championships.