AUSTIN, Texas – There was no easing their way into the 2024 schedule with an also-ran for the Lamar University men's tennis team. The Cardinals opened the year on the road at No. 3 Texas. The nationally ranked Longhorns lived up to the preseason hype defeating LU, 7-0, in front of their home fans Friday evening.
 
The Longhorns jumped out to the 1-0 lead after winning a hard-fought doubles point. Lamar put up a tough fight on all three courts with Big Red's Brandon Do and Leon Nickel pushing Texas' Jonah Braswell and Lucas Brown to within a game before falling in the 10^th, 6-4, at No. 2 doubles.
 
The Cardinals Martin Garcia-Ripoll and Gustav Hasslegren also put up a tough fight on the third court but fell to the Longhorns' Evin McDonald and Eshan Talluri, 6-3.
 
As the two teams made the transition to singles play, it didn't get any easier for the Red and White. The Longhorns lineup had four players ranked among the nation's top 50, including the top two singles players in the country. Junior Max Amling squared off against No. 1 ranked Eliot Spizzirri at court No. 1 while classmate Martin Garcia-Ripoll faced No. 2 Micah Braswell at the No. 3 position.
 
The Longhorns picked up wins on both courts – with line three finishing first – to take a 3-0 lead. From that point on Texas needed just one more win on the remaining four courts for the overall team victory. The deciding point came from the No. 4 position as Texas would close out the day with victories on the remaining courts.
 
It doesn't get any easier for Big Red who now travels to Waco, Texas to take on the 25^th-ranked Baylor Bears. The match against Baylor is slated to begin at 6 p.m. from the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.