Jan. 21, 2005

Results

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Lamar men's tennis team came up short on Friday morning, dropping a non-conference match against Belmont University, 4-3, at Burns Park Tennis Center in North Little Rock.

The loss was LU's third straight, dropping the Cardinals to 1-3 on the season. It was the first win of the year for Belmont in its season debut.

The Cardinals No. 1 doubles team of Ignacio Melus and Dean Clower captured Lamar's only doubles win of the match, knocking off BU's Alex Gillott and Ignacio Gesto, 8-4. Belmont took the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches, 8-5 respectively, to record the team doubles point.

In singles action LU battled valiantly, but Javier Rodriguez's straight set win over Lamar's Christian Olivier at the No. 4 spot (6-4, 6-2) clinched the match for the Bruins. Freshman Emmanuel Olivier was able to salvage a three-set win over BU's Gesto, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, after coming back from a tough first-set loss.

Senior Juan Pablo Alatorre notched his second singles win of the season at the No. 2 position, taking out Fausto Rocha, 6-2, 7-6. Alatorre topped the Brazil native 7-4 in the second set tiebreaker.

Senior Dean Clower also picked up his first singles win of the season at the No. 5 after BU's Felipe Abreu retired after falling behind 4-2 in the third set.

The Cardinals continue non-conference play on Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. match against the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.