BEAUMONT, Texas – Similar to the Lamar University women's tennis team earlier in the day, the LU men defeated Nicholls, 6-1, Monday afternoon at the Thompson Family Tennis Center sending the seniors out in style and sweeping the Colonels in a regular-season finale doubleheader.
The shorthanded Cardinals saw numerous players step up to play out of their normal positions to secure the impressive victory heading into the Southland Conference Championships next week in Thibodaux, La.
Lamar jumped on the accelerator early picking up wins at Nos. 2 (
Haruki Omori-Cowie and Lukas Hamacker) and 3 (
Louis Drapeau and
Santiago Ledesma) doubles to secure the point. Those two courts surrendered just three games total in taking the early lead.
No. 1 doubles was halted when the point was awarded but Big Red had a lead on that court as well.
On the switch to singles, things would tighten up but the Cardinals utilized a bend but don't break approach. Three matches (courts 1, 3 and 4) would all go to a third set while two sets on other three courts went to a tiebreaker.
Ledesma quickly pushed the Cardinals lead to 2-0 with his straight-sets decision over Nicholls' Venter Gerhard, 6-0, 6-0. Hamacher followed suit moments later with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 decision to give Big Red and 3-0 lead.
Up three with four to play, the Cardinals needed just one of the remaining four courts for the overall decision. That victory would come from junior
Guy Dagan at No. 5 singles. Dagan posted a hard-fought 7-6 (11-9) victory in the opening set against the Colonels' Michael Wood and then held his opponent at arm's length in the second for the clincher, 6-4.
The Cardinals closed the day by taking two of the three-set matches the first at No. 1 singles (Omori-Cowie who was playing his final home match for the Red and White) and No. 3 singles (
Stefano Chappuis).
The Cardinals now await the remainder of the league matches to find out who their first-round opponent will be in the Southland Conference Championships.
#PeckEmCards
