BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's tennis team will wrap up its season-opening four-match road swing this weekend as they travel to UT Rio Grande Valley and Rice. The road trip started a week ago with matches against the third (Texas) and 25^th (Baylor) ranked teams in the country.
 
The Cardinals (0-2) now head to Edinburg, Texas looking for their first win of the season against a Vaqueros squad in a similar position. UTRGV is also 0-2 after opening the year with road setbacks at Oklahoma State and Omaha.
 
The Vaqueros lead the all-time series between the two schools, 32-25, but LU has had some success on the road in the series. Big Red is just one match under the .500 mark (5-6) all-time on the road against UT Rio Grande Valley. Despite being seven matches under .500 overall in the series, the Cardinals have flipped the script recently on UTRGV having won three straight and 10 of the past 12 meetings.
 
Friday's match is slated for a 10 a.m. start from the Orville I. Cox Tennis Center.
 
The Cardinals will then travel to Houston for a Sunday showdown against Rice. The Owls are 2-0 on the season after opening the year a week earlier with a doubleheader sweep of Alcorn State. Rice shutout PVAMU, 7-0, in both matches.
 
History is in Rice's favor in the all-time series, which dates back to the 1975 season. The Owls are 38-3 all-time against LU and Lamar has yet to defeat Rice in Houston. While Rice has won the previous six meetings in the series, Lamar posted a 4-1 decision over Rice during the 2016 season with the Owls were ranked 28^th in the country. Sunday's match is slated for an 11 a.m. start from the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
 
The Cardinals will finally get to play in from their fans when they kick off the home schedule against Alcorn State Saturday, Jan. 27^th beginning at 10 a.m. The home opener will actually be a doubleheader against the Braves with the second match starting at 2 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.