Box Score EDINBURG, Texas – Lamar University men's tennis proved Friday (and Saturday morning) it had the endurance to compete and win a long, physically and emotionally draining match defeating UT Rio Grande Valley Saturday morning. In a contest that was originally slated to get started Friday morning, but eventually had to be halted after singles (tied 3-3), due to numerous weather delays, the Cardinals returned to the court Saturday morning and left no doubt winning all three doubles matches to defeat the Vaqueros, 4-3.
 
Because of the weather, the two teams agreed to start with singles play (instead of the traditional doubles first format) in an attempt to beat the weather. But after six singles matches, the score was tied, 3-3.
 
The contest went right down the singles ladder with court 1 finishing first followed by 2, 3 and so on. Sophomore Max Amling gave the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead with his straight sets victory at No. 1 singles (def. Emilien Burnel, 6-1, 7-6), but things turned against LU (4-4) after that.
 
After courts 2 and 3 finished, Big Red found itself down 2-1, but the Cardinals fought back to reclaim the advantage. After Brandon Do (No. 4 singles) and Max Milic (No. 5) both picked up three-set victories, everything came down to court 6 – either LU would win in singles, or it would head to doubles tied.
 
Unfortunately, the Vaqueros snagged the win on court 6 – in three sets – to force doubles, but those matches would wait until Saturday.
 
The Cardinals took all the suspense out of the match early taking quick victories on courts 2 and 3 for the point and the overall win. It was the duo of Milic and Haruki Omori-Cowie who put the match away on court three. After that, all that remained was the decision on court 1 doubles, which went to a tiebreak, but the Cardinal duo of Amling and Filippo Salsini prevailed over UTRGV's Burnel and Sam Whitehead, 7-6 (8-6).
 
The Cardinals return to action Friday, Feb. 10, when they host Alcorn State in a doubleheader. The first match of the doubleheader will begin at 11 a.m.