Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 TULSA, Okla. – The Lamar University men's tennis team extended its win streak to seven after sweeping a doubleheader from Oral Roberts Friday afternoon. The Cardinals took the weather-delayed first match, 6-1, and followed that up with a 4-0 decision in the second. Due to the weather delay, the two teams agreed to play a clinch-clinch match in the second.
 
"We came out hot in doubles and all three lines were clicking from the beginning," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "We never fell behind and finished off on all three courts strong. Fortunately, we held that momentum in singles taking courts five and six pretty quick. That was very fortunate for us because the other four courts were battles. ORU made us work to get the win but we held momentum and got the W.
 
"We've had to deal with some weather issues the past couple years – including a few this year at home. I thought our guys were mature in how they handled it. They remained focused, didn't get overanxious and had a great warmup," added Shankles.
 
The Cardinals made quick work in the doubles competition of the first match surrendering a total of six games in the three matches. It was the first lead of the day, and it was one LU would not surrender. Sophomore Joshua Taylor made it a two-point lead after his straight-set decision on court No. 5. He defeated the Golden Eagles' Eddy Leardini, 6-0, 6-3, to give LU a 2-0 lead.
 
Nederland freshman Brandon Do put the Cardinals on the doorstep of the overall victory with his straight-sets decision at No. 6 singles, and junior Carlos Paton Canal put the icing on the cake with three-set decision on court No. 3. After Paton Canal's clincher, the Cardinals also picked up wins on courts four and two before the Golden Eagles dented the scoreboard.
 
The second match also saw LU snag an early lead with a victory in doubles, but this time it was more closely contested. The two teams split the decisions on courts one and two – with identical scores – before LU got the point with a win on court No. 3, but even that was a nailbiter. The team of Do and Bo Cautaerts defeated ORU's Leardini and Scott Hjelm, 7-5.
 
After surviving the doubles, Big Red never looked back steamrolling ORU in singles. The Cardinals picked up wins on courts two, five and four, respectively, and the match was stopped. Despite the shutout, there was some excitement in singles as freshman Filippo Salsini and junior Joshua Sundaram had to go a tiebreak before winning their opening sets.
 
The Cardinals will now have two weeks to prepare before traveling to Dallas to put their win streak on the line against SMU. The match against the Mustangs will begin at 3 p.m. from the SMU Tennis Complex.