BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University tennis team (9-11/2-3 SLC) will look to close the season with a flourish but to do that they will have to accomplish it away from home. The Cardinals will be on the road for their final three matches beginning Saturday with a 1 p.m. contest at UIW, followed by a match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi two days later. The Cardinals will close out the regular season Wednesday at UTSA.
 
The Cardinals enter the week currently tied for fifth (with UIW) in the league standings, just a match back of Northwestern State in the loss column.
 
The match against the league's other Cardinals takes top priority (at the moment) for the obvious reason of it being next on the docket. Plus, a win over UIW would go a long way for Lamar to receive a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
 
UIW (6-11/2-3 SLC) heads into the weekend showdown riding a similar roller coaster to Lamar. UIW has split its last six decisions overall but is coming off consecutive losses to New Orleans and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Lamar leads the brief series history, 6-2 (.750), over San Antonio's version of the Cardinals.
 
The Islanders remain in the hunt for the Southland Conference title. A&M-Corpus Christi has a 17-2 (.895) overall record and is 4-0 in league play having won seven-straight matches. The Islanders will square off in a showdown of the two remaining undefeated teams Saturday in Corpus Christi before hosting LU.
 
The all-time series between the two schools dates back to 1999 season and is one where the Islanders hold a slim advantage, 15-10 (.600), including an 8-3 mark in Corpus Christi. The match against the Islanders will begin at 11 a.m.
 
The Cardinals will step away from conference play for their regular-season finale when they travel to UTSA (13-6). The Roadrunners have been on a roll lately posting three consecutive wins outscoring opponents by a score of 13-2 during that stretch.
 
UTSA owns the all-time series against LU, 18-10, but the majority of those contests came when the two schools were Southland rivals.