BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University women's tennis team closes out the 2023 regular season with a hectic final week of action that will include three matches in five days. Fortunately for the Cardinals, all three matches will be played in Beaumont.
 
The Cardinals also enter the final week of the regular season looking to improve their spot in the conference standings, with the start of the Southland Conference Championships set to begin Thursday, April 20^th in Corpus Christi, Texas.
 
Lamar (10-8/2-2 SLC) is currently fourth, just a win back of UIW in the conference standings. Unfortunately, the standings are jam packed in the middle and LU is just a win up over Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.
 
The Cardinals enter the week looking to hop off the roller coaster they've been on for the previous six matches. During that stretch, Big Red has rotated wins and losses. Lamar looks to get back in the win column beginning Wednesday when it faces UIW. The league's other Cardinals have won four of their last six but come to the Golden Triangle having dropped consecutive decisions. A victory Wednesday and Lamar would leapfrog UIW in the standings. LU leads the all-time series, albeit a brief history, 6-1 (.857), and are 2-0 all-time against UIW in Beaumont. Wednesday's match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
 
The Red and White will turn around two days later and return to the court facing current league leaders, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders are 18-2 on the season and 5-0 in conference play and have won seven straight matches. While the Islanders own a 14-10 all-time record in the series, they have struggled when traveling to Beaumont as LU as won seven of the 11 meetings played in front of their home fans. Friday's contest will get underway at 11 a.m.
 
The Cardinals will close out the week with a Sunday match against New Orleans. The Privateers are 8-7 (.533) on the season but just 1-4 (.200) in conference play. After a strong start to year, UNO has fallen on hard times recently dropping four of their last five matches. The Cardinals have a slim 10-9 (.526) all-time series lead, but the Cards have struggled at home against UNO, 3-4 (.429). Sunday's match will also serve a senior day for the Cards.
 
All three matches will be played at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center.