BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University Cardinals are set to kick off the 2021 season Friday when they host the Katrinka Crawford Invitational at McDonald Gym. The invitational will be a two-day, four-team event that will include LU, Prairie View A&M, Oral Roberts and UL Monroe.
 
The Cardinals will open the season Friday afternoon with a 1 p.m. match against PVAMU. Big Red will host Oral Roberts Friday at 7 p.m. and will close out the tournament Saturday with 1 p.m. against UL Monroe.
 
The tournament will get started Friday at 10 a.m. with Oral Roberts opening things up against UL Monroe. The rest of the non-LU matches will consist of UL Monroe facing PVAMU (Friday, Aug. 27^th at 4 p.m.) and PVAMU taking on Oral Roberts Saturday at 10 a.m. All matches will be played in McDonald Gym.
 
Individual match tickets are $5, or fans can purchase a tournament pass for $18. Tickets can be purchased through the LU Ticket Office by calling (409) 880-7168.
 
The Cardinals enter the 2021 season under the direction of second-year head coach Jordan Lay. Big Red will be looking to improve upon a tough 2020 campaign that saw numerous delays, postponements and cancellations in a season that was eventually pushed to the spring. In a reduced schedule that saw LU compete in 17 matches, the Cardinals posted a 1-16 (.059) overall record with the lone victory coming in conference competition.
 
UL Monroe and ORU enter the new season in a similar situation as LU. Both squads are looking to build from a disappointing 2020 campaign. ORU posted a 3-15 (.167) mark last season. The Golden Eagles closed the COVID-shortened season with only one win in their final 12 matches. Monroe won just one match – its season opener – before dropping the remainder of their matches last year.
 
PVAMU will look to pick up right where they left off last season after posting a 12-3 (.800) record and just missing out on a SWAC regular-season title with a 10-1 (.909) conference record. The Panthers won seven of the last eight matches with their season coming to an end in the conference tournament semifinals.