Lamar sports information
BEAUMONT — It’s been 40 years in the making, but the Lamar University men’s tennis team earned the right to be called Southland Conference Champions Wednesday afternoon. The 54th-ranked Cardinals shutout rival, and six-time defending conference champ Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4-0, to lay claim to a title that has been absent from the Golden Triangle since 1976.
“That’s a really long time,” said LU head coach Scott Shankles following the victory. “All of the former LU players who worked so hard to get here during those years, it made the victory that much more special to be able to do it for them in front of amazing and loud crowd. People from the community turned out, we also had coaches and student-athletes from other sports, as well as the regular student body. They were amazing.”
The 1976 season was the fourth consecutive year Big Red brought home the conference trophy. The 2016 team won the program’s sixth SLC title and the 18th conference title overall (12 Lone Star Titles).
“This wins means everything for us,” said Shankles. “During the 50s, 60s and 70s this program was so successful. That was our heyday. It took us 40 years to get back, so this means a lot to not only our guys, but the university and all the past players. I’m very proud of these guys.”
The Red and White eliminated any of the suspense the match was supposed to have pretty early on. The Cardinals got wins from Nos. 2 and 3 doubles to take the first lead of the match, 1-0. About the only suspense in the match came from Mother Nature as the match had to be stopped for nearly 30 minutes due to rain. When play resumed, LU picked up right where it left off.
Taking the first set in the three of the singles matches, the Cards made quick work of their opponent in those matches. Sophomore Benny Schweizer gave LU a 2-0 lead with his 6-3, 6-1 victory over Guillaume Rauseo at No. 4 singles.
Junior Jeandre Hoogenboezem followed up minutes later with a 6-0, 6-2, win over the Islanders Arthur Bedel and No. 5 singles. That win placed the Cardinals just one point shy of a celebration. Big Red wouldn’t have to wait long for that celebration as classmate Nikita Lis finished off the Islanders’ Ricardo Mayagoitia, 6-3, 6-3, on court two. Following the Lis’ win the rest of the matches were stopped.
“We have been gunning for them for a long time,” said Shankles of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. “Steve Moore runs a great program. His kids never give up and always fight. Having been so close last year we felt we had the team this year to get the job done. We were fortunate enough to be on the right side of this match today.
“I’ve heard a lot of folks here call this a rivalry, but in the past I don’t think we could really call it a true rivalry. For it to be a rivalry, both teams have to record their fair share of the wins, and we hadn’t lived up to our end of the bargain. Maybe now we can start to call this a rivalry,” added Shankles.
Wednesday’s victory also assured LU of the top seed in next week’s Southland Conference Championships. The semifinals will begin Saturday with championship the match being played Sunday. All matches will be played at the Schlief Tennis Complex in Nacogdoches.