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Lamar
For the second time this season, Lamar University’s freshman duo of Juan Jose Rodriguez and Daniel Sancho Arbizu have been named Western Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Players of the Week. Rodriguez earned the honor in both singles and doubles, while Sancho Arbizu received doubles honors.
In a week where the Cardinals were originally scheduled to play three matches, that schedule got trimmed down to just a single match (due to weather). The Cardinal duo, along with the team in general, were dominate in the match posting a 5-2 victory over the Golden Eagles.
Rodriguez and Sancho Arbizu helped LU secure the first point of the day when the freshmen closed out their match at No. 1 doubles 6-3, over Ignacio Vinas and Ezequiel Monferrer. The victory was key as the third and final doubles match went to Oral Roberts in a close battle.
As the team’s turned their attention to singles play, Rodriguez once again squared off against ORU’s Monferrer – a player who just one year ago was ranked as 67th in the world junior rankings. Rodriguez went on the offensive and took a close opening set, 7-5. The first set was close, and the second would be razor thin the Cardinal rookie held on for a victory in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (8-6).
The Cardinals return to action Friday to take on Tyler Junior College. The match against TJC is slated to begin at 11 a.m. from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.