BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University women's tennis team will open play in the Southland Conference Championship Tournament beginning Thursday against Bryant University – an affiliate member with the conference in women's tennis. The Cardinals enter the tournament as the No. 8 overall seed, while Bryant is the ninth-seeded team.
 
The Cardinals ended the regular season with a 9-14 (.391) overall record and tied for 6^th in the standings with a 2-5 (.286) league record. Bryant ended the year with a 6-8 (.429) overall mark.
 
Big Red struggled down the stretch of the regular season dropping their final seven matches but were forced to battle through a ton of adversity missing several key players from the starting lineup. Those loses included standout freshman Natalia Turczuk who was a perfect 13-0 on the year, including a 10-0 record at the No. 5 singles position before losing the rest of her year to injury.
 
Thursday's contest between LU and the Bulldogs will be the first meeting on the court between the two teams. The match is slated for a 10 a.m. start from the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio.
 
Should the Cardinals get past Bryant, they will face top overall seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the SLC quarterfinals. The Islanders received the league's top seed after going 20-2 on the year and 7-0 in conference play to earn a first-round bye.