COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 56^th-ranked Lamar University men's tennis team (17-6) came up short against No. 18 Texas in the opening round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships Friday in College Station. The Longhorns recorded a 4-0 victory at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center to advance to the second round to face the winner of No. 12 Texas A&M and George Washington.
 
"Texas played great today," said LU head coach Scott Shankles. "They got out to great starts on courts two and three, and they got the breaks at a good time for them. Then they held on to win the doubles point, and we just couldn't get back into it in those matches. I thought we were solid on court one.
 
"In singles, we dropped the first set on all six courts, but they were all close. We were right there with them but just couldn't get enough points to get the lead. Our guys fought hard and I'm very proud of how we competed," said Shankles.
 
The Longhorns took the opening lead of the match after picking up wins at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. UT's Adrian Ortiz and Julian Zlobinsky recorded the first victory of the day with a 6-2 score over juniors Jeandre Hoogenboezem and Nikita Lis on court two. The 'Horns' John Mee and Harrison Scott followed suit with a 6-2 win over junior Juuso Laitinen and Sebastian Santibanez on court three moments later for the point.
 
The setback was made even tougher to accept with LU locked in a 4-4 battle on court one before the match was called.
 
The Cardinals got out to a strong start in singles play across all six courts. LU was battling point-for-point on each court before the Longhorns started to take control. UT picked up the first set in all six matches and the Red and White was never able to recover.
 
UT extended its lead to 2-0 after their straight-sets victory on court No.1. The 'Horns George Goldhoff defeated junior Michael Feucht, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 1 singles. UT grabbed a commanding 3-0 lead after Michael Riechmann defeated Hoogenboezem, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 5 singles.
 
The match came to an end on court two when Ortiz recorded a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Lis.
 
"This experience will be huge for our guys next year," said Shankles.  "We return all but two players so this will be a valuable experience as we move forward. We accomplished a lot of things this season but I don't want our guys to just be content with this year. We can't get complacent. We need to continue to get better."
   
Singles
1. George Goldhoff (UT) def. Michael Feucht (LU), 6-4, 6-3
2. Adrian Ortiz (UT) def. Nikita Lis (LU), 7-5, 6-2
3. Harrison Scott (UT) vs. Benny Schweizer (LU), 6-4, 5-2, Unf.
4. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) vs. Sebastian Santibanez (LU), 6-3, 2-5, Unf.
5. Michael Riechmann (UT) def. Jeandre Hoogenboezem (LU), 6-4, 6-4
6. Julian Zlobinsky (UT) def. Juuso Laitinen (LU), 7-6 (7-3), 4-3 Unf.
 
Doubles
1. Goldhoff/Riechmann (UT) def. Feucht/Schweizer (LU), 4-4, Unf.
2. Ortiz/Zlobinsky (UT) def. Hoogenboezem/Lis (LU), 6-2
3. Mee/Scott (UT) def. Laitinen/Santibanez (LU), 6-3
 
-LU CARDINALS-