Cardinals Hit the Road for Two
 
BEAUMONT, Texas- The Lamar University men's tennis team will return to action Saturday when they play two matches on the road. The Cardinals will travel to Mobile, Ala., to face off against South Alabama on Saturday, Feb. 1 and will then play their second game of the weekend the following day against Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss.
 
The Cardinals enter the week with an 0-3 overall record with a tough non-conference slate to start the year. Big Red came up just short in their home opener against SMU last time out falling by one, 4-3.
 
Lamar vs South Alabama, Feb. 1st at Noon:
 
The Cardinals match up against the Jaguars will be the sixth match in program history, the two teams last meeting saw USA seal a 4-0 decision against Big Red in a weather shortened competition at the Thompson Family Tennis last season. The Jaguars enter this weekend with a similar record to LU, 0-3. Another similarity to the Cardinals, South Alabama has also played a tough non-conference schedule following losses to Florida State, #9 Texas A&M and Oregon. Saturday's match will begin at noon from the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.
 
Lamar vs Southern Miss, Feb 2nd at 11:00 A.M:
 
The Cardinals' second match of the weekend will see them face off against a Southern Miss team that has started the season in impressive form; rallying to three comfortable victories against Prairie View A&M, Alcorn State and Florida A&M. The Golden Eagles are 3-1 on the season but are coming off a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to West Alabama last time out. USM holds an impressive 42-9 record at home during head coach Zubin Engineer's tenure. Sunday's matchup is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. from the Southern Miss Tennis Facility.
 
Last time out, Lamar vs SMU, Jan. 25th at 11 A.M:
 
LU will look to bounce back from their narrow loss to SMU last weekend and search for similar tennis that saw them race to a 3-0 lead over the Mustangs. Big Red leapt to a dominant early lead following double match wins on courts 1 and 3 and carried the momentum into the start of singles play as LU grabbed four first sets. Unfortunately for LU, two of those courts went to a third set and both were won by the Mustangs.
 
Sophomore Joshua Taylor gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead with his straight-sets victory over Michael Smith at No. 6 singles. Taylor ousted his opponent with identical 6-2 scores for the advantage. LU was on the verge of the overall victory after junior Carlos Paton Canal picked up a win in straights sets over Tomas Vaise. Just like Taylor on court 6, Paton Canal recorded identical scores, 6-4, 6-4, for the victory.
 
With their backs against the wall, SMU responded in a resurgent way. The Mustangs got on the scoreboard with a win on court No. 2 and followed that up with three-set victories at courts 4 and 1, respectively, to tie the match at 3 with the final decision coming down to court No. 5.
 
The battle at No. 5 singles also came down to a third set but saw SMU's Huntley Allen earn the victory for SMU with a 6-2, 5-7, 4-6 decision over LU's Josh Sundaram.
 
Following this weekend's action, the Cardinals will return to the safe confines of the Thompson Family Tennis Center to host four home matches; Alcorn State (Feb 7.), UT Arlington (Feb 9.), Oral Roberts (Feb 14.) and Prairie View (Feb 16.). The first home fixture against Alcorn is slated to begin at 10 A.M.