BEAUMONT, Texas – It has been said that there are three seasons in every year – the non-conference, the conference, and the postseason. The Lamar University women's tennis team has successfully navigated its way through the first two parts – which has been no easy task with all things COVID – and now they turn their focus to the Southland Conference Championships which LU will be hosting Friday through Sunday at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center.
 
The Cardinals head into the postseason as the Southland's No. 7 overall seed after posting an 8-7 (.533) overall record and a 5-5 (.500) mark in conference play. The Red and White will look to reverse course just a bit from the final weeks of the season as LU fought its way through the toughest stretch of the year. The Cardinals dropped three of their final four matches down the stretch but struggled just to be able to find consistency getting on the court. In the final three weeks of the season LU had three matches canceled either due to COVID or the weather, including one conference match.
 
The Cardinals open the tournament Friday at 10 a.m. against No. 2-seed New Orleans. The Privateers earned the league's No. 2 seed after posting a 12-2 (.857) overall record including a 10-1 (.909) league mark. UNO enters the tournament with fewer non-conference contests than most teams due to the fact that five of their first six matches (all non-conference contests) were cancelled. Following their season-opener at Tulane on Jan. 25, the Privateers didn't get back on the court for more than a month when they opened conference play against Northwestern State Mar. 5. Ironically, neither team has played a match since the two closed the regular season against each other on April 11 (both teams had non-conference matches scheduled for later in the year which were cancelled).
 
LU and New Orleans are tied all-time with a 9-9 overall record, but recent history has been in favor of UNO. The Privateers have won three straight and five of the previous six outings, including a 5-2 decision in New Orleans earlier this year.
 
The other half of the pod consists of No. 3 Central Arkansas against No. 6 Abilene Christian. That match will also kick off at 10 a.m. Friday. The two afternoon matches will consist of No. 1 Sam Houston against No. 8 Stephen F. Austin and No. 4 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi taking on No. 5 Northwestern State.