SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Lamar University's win streak came to an end in the Southland Conference semifinals as No. 1 seed UIW defeated the Cardinals 4-2, Friday evening at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio, Texas.
 
The loss ends Lamar's season at 11-12. Despite the loss, the Cardinals made a strong run to close the season winning five of their final six matches heading into Friday's semifinal contest.
 
Lamar dropped a hard-fought doubles point as UIW picked up 7-5 victories at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. Lamar was also locked in a close match on court 3 before it was halted as Joan Crespo and Haruki Omori-Cowie were down just a game.
 
UIW made it a 2-0 lead before Lamar began to chip away. Junior Max Amling trimmed the deficit to one after defeating UIW's Tomas Reche, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 2 singles. The league's other Cardinals responded almost immediately with a victory at No. 3 singles.
 
Just moments later though, Martin Garcia-Ripoll – on court No. 1 – pulled Big Red back within a point. Garcia-Ripoll recorded a hard fought 7-5 victory in the first set over UIW's Joao Sasso and then made quick work of him in the second set, 6-1, to make the overall team score, 3-2.
 
After the match saw three courts finish within moments of each other, the two teams battled for nearly an hour before the next point was scored. Unfortunately for Lamar, it was the league's other Cardinals who picked up the point. UIW's Jose Garmendia scored the final point with his victory at No. 4 singles.