The Lamar University men’s and women’s tennis teams will both play for a Southland Conference championship after each won their semifinal matches in dramatic fashion Sunday in Beaumont.
The Cardinal men held off a late run by third-seeded New Orleans thanks to a timely performance from an experienced player. Later in the day, the Lamar women defeated Abilene Christian in a four-hour match that also came down to the No. 1 singles spot.
Both teams will have a quick turnaround with title matches coming today at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center. Here’s how each of them got there:
Mayr comes up clutch again for Cardinals
Nicolas Mayr knows all about winning big matches. In 2018, he won the deciding match for Lamar men’s tennis to secure the Southland tournament championship.
On Sunday, Mayr gave the Cardinals a chance at another title. He won a thrilling three-set match in No. 2 singles to help Lamar thwart a late charge from New Orleans and advance with a 4-3 overall win in the semifinals.
New Orleans took the opening doubles point, but Lamar responded to take a 3-1 lead with singles wins from Carlos Paton Canal, Nederland native Brandon Do and Southland Player of the Year Axel Vila Antuna.
The Pioneers won the next two matches to tie the overall score, but Mayr’s clutch win secured the Cardinals’ championship appearance. Lamar head men’s coach Scott Shankles said Sunday was “an array of emotions.”
“The match consisted of a ton of highs and lows,” he said. “We’re coming off a disappointing performance in doubles, but I felt like if we could stay calm in singles, take a deep breath and just hang in there, things could go well.”
Lamar will play No. 1 seed Texas A&M Corpus-Christi at 10 a.m. today.
Marathon match goes Lamar women’s way
Four hours of back-and-forth tennis ended with Bianca Vitale sending the Lamar women’s team into the conference championship. The Cardinals’ top singles player won a three-set match to secure the upset of Abilene Christian by a 4-3 overall score.
Lamar started well by winning the doubles point, then took a 2-0 lead when Elena Rodriguez earned the first singles win of the day. The Wildcats came back to win three straight singles matches, but Lamar’s Natalia Garcia stopped the bleeding to tie the overall score and set up Vitale’s dramatic finish.
The No. 5 seed, Lamar will face No. 4 Texas A&M Corpus-Christi for the title at 2 p.m. today.
“The amount of fight this team has showed the past two days has been incredible,” Lamar women’s coach David Wong said. “Things get tough on them, but they refuse to quit. A call goes against them, they dig down and play harder. Someone goes down with an injury everyone else steps in to pick up the slack. This was a very hard fought match against a very tough and talented Abilene Christian squad.”
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