CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The fifth-seeded Lamar University Cardinals jumped out of the gates quick and didn’t take long to record a minor upset over No. 4-seed NJIT in the opening-round of the Southland Conference Championships Thursday afternoon at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Complex. The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back defeating the Highlanders, 4-1, to advance to the second round.
The duo of Martin Garcia-Ripoll and Gustav Hasslegren recorded the first victory of the day with a 6-3 decision at No. 3 doubles. LU’s duo defeated NJIT’s Wil Jenkins and Samuel Townes in the match.
Unfortunately, that match was a sprint compared to the contests on courts 1 and 2 doubles. Line two was tied at 6, while the match on court 1 was headed to a tiebreak. In the end, reigning SLC Player of the Year, Max Amling, and his all-conference teammate, Filippo Salsini, took care of business in the extra frame for the victory at the point (halting the match on court 2).
As the teams made the turn to singles, it was an even three-way split with the Cardinals taking three opening sets and the Matadors grabbing the others. Fortunately for LU, two of the three NJIT wins were long sets including the match on court four which went to an opening-set tiebreak and Big Red took advantage.
Salsini posted a quick 6-0 decision in his opening set over Amine El Kholti and followed up with a 7-5 decision in the second to give the Cards a 2-0 lead. It was a 3-0 lead following Brandon Do’s victory on court 6.
Leading 3-0, the Cardinals needed just one win on the four remaining courts to advance, but the celebration was put on hold momentarily as the Highlanders managed to get on the scoreboard at No. 1 singles. The NJIT point didn’t matter as Lamar (11-11) followed suite with a straight-sets decision at No. 5 singles from Max Milic. He defeated NJIT’s Will Jenkins, 6-2, 7-5, for the victory.
The Cardinals return to action Friday to face regular-season champion, and top overall seed, New Orleans. The match is slated to begin at 6 p.m. from the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Complex.