BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's tennis team will try to keep their winnings ways going as it prepares to host Rice Saturday. The Cardinals (7-5/.583) will close out a brief two-match homestand Saturday when they step on the court to face the Owls, before hitting the road for four straight and six of their next seven.
 
The Cardinals have won four of their previous five matches with the lone setback during that time coming at LSU. Lamar is coming off an impressive 4-3 victory over Southern Mississippi that saw the deciding match (No. 2 singles) go deep into the third set before being decided.
 
Rice is 3-7 (.300) on the season and comes to the Golden Triangle having dropped four straights but that stretch included matches against LSU and at No. 21 Middle Tennessee and at Vanderbilt.
 
The Cardinals trail the all-time series to Rice, 37-3 (.925), in a series that dates back to the 1975 season. Saturday's contest will be just the fourth time the two schools have met in Beaumont. The Cardinals are 1-2 (.333) in those matches with their win coming in 2016 against a No. 28-ranked Rice squad.
 
Saturday's match will get under way at 11 a.m. from the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Complex in Beaumont.