BEAUMONT, Texas – A week later than they expected the Lamar University women's tennis team will officially kick off its season Saturday in dual doubleheader with the Cardinal men. The women's team, which was originally slated to open the 2024 campaign last week at Rice, had the season-opener pushed to this week.
 
The Cardinals are coming off an 11-11 (.500) campaign that saw them go 3-4 (.429) last year in Southland Conference play and finish tied for fifth in the standings. LU head coach David Wong is retuning four letterwinners from last season including sophomore Megan Do who earned all-conference honors after a strong rookie campaign.
 
The rest of the returning letterwinners include junior Elena Rubio who is entering her fourth year with the squad, sophomore Saloni Tamang and super senior Jayci Wong.
 
This strong core of veterans will be counted on to bring along a strong but youthful incoming class. The remainder of the roster will consist of five newcomers including Martina Alcaino (Chile), Leah Kuruvilla (Idaho State), Nouray Metwally (Egypt), Marika Mueller (Germany) and Natalia Turczuk (Wroclaw, Poland).
 
While the Lady Braves will open their spring season Thursday afternoon against St. Louis, they have also faced some weather delays this year. Alcorn State was expected to open their 2024 campaign with two matches on Saturday, Jan. 20 (at Mississippi State and against Samford) but both of those matches were canceled due to weather.
 
Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 10 a.m. from the Thompson Family Tennis Center. The second match of the day will begin at 2 p.m.