THIBODAUX, La. – It has been a tough stretch for the Lamar University men's tennis team due to the fact that the schedule forced them to become road warriors over the past three weeks but the Cardinals closed out a successful road trip with a 6-1 victory at Nicholls Monday afternoon.
 
The victory moved Lamar to 11-10 (.524) on the season to go along with 2-0 start in Southland Conference play. Big Red closed out the nine-match road swing with a 6-3 (.667) record.
 
Lamar jumped out to a quick start and never looked back. The Cardinals got wins from Leon Nickel and Maxwell Lindstedt (at No. 1 doubles) and Vicente Monge and Rintario Shukuda (No. 3) for the early one-point lead.
 
Lamar had no designs on surrendering the momentum in the switch to singles competition. Lindstedt made it a 2-0 lead with his 6-3, 6-1, victory over Nicholls' Marcell Marki the No. 2 spot. Moments later, Nickel made it a 3-0 lead with his straight-sets decision (6-1, 7-5) over Tavares Colin at line one.
 
With two singles matches down, Lamar built a 3-0 lead and despite the fact three of the final four courts were headed to a third set the Cardinals did not surrender the lead. In fact, LU eliminated any potential nervous moments by taking the next three courts.
 
Sophomore Louis Drapeau came through with the clinching match with a straight-sets decision at No. 6 defeating Mitchell Spence, 6-1, 6-4. Big Red also picked up three-set victories from Shukuda (No. 3) and Monge (No. 5). Nicholls' lone singles win came at the No. 4 position where the Colonels had to grab a tiebreak victory in the first set and hold on in the final two.
 
The Cardinals return to the court Saturday when they host UT Rio Grande Valley. The match against the Vaqueros is set to begin at 10 a.m. from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.