Lamar sports information
BEAUMONT — For the second time in as many weeks, Lamar University junior Nikita Lis has been named Southland Conference Player of the Week announced league officialsTuesday morning. It is the sixth time this season that a Cardinal has won the award.
Lis improved to 9-7 (.563) during the spring at No. 2 singles, and moved to 3-1 (.750) in Southland matches with his straight-sets victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Ricardo Mayagoitia, 6-3, 6-3. The victory was just one of two wins for Lis on the afternoon as he helped the Cardinals secure a perfect conference season and their first Southland regular-season title since the 1976 campaign.
Along with partner Jeandre Hoogenboezem, Liz made quick work of the Islanders No. 2 doubles team to help the Cardinals secure two of the team’s four points in the shutout victory of the six-time defending conference champs.
Lis, and the rest of the Cardinals have secured the No. 1 overall seed in the Southland Conference Championships beginning Saturday in Nacogdoches, Texas. Big Red steps on the court looking to claim the Southland’s automatic bid to the championships beginning Saturdayat 10 a.m. LU will open the tournament against No. 4 seed Nicholls in the semifinals.
If the Cardinals get past Nicholls, they will face the winner of No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 3 New Orleans, which will also begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. The championship match will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. All tournament matches will be played at the Schlief Tennis Complex on the Stephen F. Austin campus.
The Cardinals recorded a perfect 3-0 record this season against the other teams in the tournament. The Red and White not only won all three matches but did so in impressive fashion recording two shutouts and surrendering only one point. LU outscored the other three teams, 17-1, in the three regular-season tilts.