HOUSTON, Texas – After weather forced Lamar University to cancel its annual home fall tournament - the Ron Wesbrooks Invitational - LU head coach Scott Shankles was left with a decision of facing the possibility of his team being at a slight disadvantage of not getting as many fall matches as the rest of the league, or scrambling to find another quality tournament. Shankles chose the latter option and fortunately for the Red and White that option was just down I-10 in Houston at the Ralph O'Connor Invitational hosted by Rice.
 
Rice had an opening which allowed three Cardinals to make the trip - Junior Fabian Anthin, sophomore Rintaro Shukuda and freshman Dan Milburn. The tournament was a Davis Cup format where you play a doubles set, followed by a best-of-three singles match for each individual with the overall winner advancing.
 
The Cardinals paired Anthin up with Milburn while Shukuda teamed up with UT Arlington's Christopher Bennett. The Cardinals battled back from a tough start to close strong on the final day of the tournament. After the team of Anthin and Milburn dropped a 2-1 decision to UT Arlington's Bautista Rojas and Novak Ivanovic on the first day of competition LU was back on the court the next day and squared off against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Dan Hosono and Paxton O'Shea in the Draw C consolation round. LU earned a hard-fought 7-5 victory in the doubles match to take an early lead. In the switch to singles Anthin faced O'Shea and secured a straight-sets decision, 6-2, 6-1, while Milburn went the distance posting a marathon three-set victory, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
 
After the shutout over the Islanders, Anthin and Milburn faced Andres Delgadillo and Dani Lopez, also from A&M-Corpus Christi, with a similar result. Lamar took the doubles match with a 6-4 decision with Anthin squaring off against Lopez and Milburn battling Delgadillo in singles. Milburn got the straight-sets victory in the second match, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, while Anthin answered the call in the form of a three-set victory, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
 
It was a similar story for Bennett and Shukuda in Draw C. After dropping a 2-1 decision to the Islanders' Egor Gorin and Nicolas Rivera, 2-1 (with Shukuda winning his singles match over Gorin), the duo moved into the consolation bracket where they recorded shutout wins over Corpus Christi Hosono and O'Shea and UT Rio Grande Valley's Camille Chantron and Eoghan Samyn.
 
The Lamar-UTA mixed pair made quick work of Hosono and O'Shea in the doubles match, 6-1, with Shukuda locking up the sweep with a 6-3, 6-3 decision over Hosono. The doubles match against the Vaqueros was close but Shukuda and Bennett posted a 6-4 decision. It was Shukuda again who put the wraps on the shutout with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Chantron.
 
The Cardinals return to action Friday when they travel to Lake Charles for the Southland Masters Championships. The Masters will consist of each league school sending its top singles player and doubles player. The tournament will be hosted by McNeese.