SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Visiting Lamar University spoiled Senior Day and the final men's tennis match of University of the Incarnate Word's head coach John Newman.  LU topped UIW, 4-3 at Clarence Mabry Tennis Center on Friday.

UIW, ineligible for post-season play this year, just missed posting a .500 record their first year in the Southland Conference.  They will have to settle for a 2-4 mark against SLC opponents and a 14-7 overall record.

Newman has been the head coach of UIW for 23 years and he has 32 years of coaching men's collegiate tennis.  He has also been the UIW women's coach during that same span and has accumulated a 610-442-2 overall record with only the women's match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 1 p.m. remaining.  The Trinity grad is a UIW Hall of Fame member and the only three-time Trinity Hall of Famer.

Friday's match was evenly matched, but Lamar's win in doubles play proved to be the difference.  The LU duo of Jeandre Hoogenboezem and Juuso Laitienn knocked off Leonard Ivic and Josip Smoljan at No.1 in a tie-breaker.  At No. 3 doubles, Michael Feucht and Trey Crysel clipped Antonio Cavazos and Brandon Davis, 8-6 to secure the point.

In singles action, UIW picked up wins from Assuncao at No. 1, Smoljan at No. 3 and Tucker Brown at No. 4 to take a 3-2 lead with the final two matches remaining.  Hoogenboezem won 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 while Mikko Rajamaki put the finishing touches on the match with a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 6.

UIW has four seniors on the roster, but only Assuncao and Davis played.  Brody Rodriguez and Johan Haerens are the other two seniors on the squad.  Assuncao finished off a brilliant two-year career with a 20-10 record in singles this year as the team's No. 1 player.  He was 30-16 as a singles player and 22-20 as a doubles player for the Cardinals.

Davis has been in the singles lineup for UIW all four years.  He went 17-14 in 2014 at No. 5 and finished his career with a 47-35 record putting him fourth in school history for career singles victories.  He also won 15 doubles matches in his career.

The Cardinals had four players win at least 20 singles matches this season matching the total of every other season in the program's history, combined.  Smoljan led the team with a 22-7 mark, the second most wins in school history.

Singles competition

1. Jair Assuncao (UIW) def. Michael Feucht (LU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 1-0 (10-5)

2. Nikita Lis (LU) def. Leonard Ivic (UIW) 7-5, 6-2

3. Josip Smoljan (UIW) def. Juuso Laitinen (LU) 6-7, 6-0, 6-0

4. Tucker Brown (UIW) def. Carl-Philip Lindqvis (LU) 6-2, 6-2

5. Jeandre Hoogenboezem (LU) def. Brandon Davis (UIW) 6-4, 6-4

6. Mikko Rajamaki (LU) def. Antonio Cavazos (UIW) 6-0, 6-0

 

Doubles competition

1. Jeandre Hoogenboezem/Juuso Laitinen (LU) def. Leonard Ivic/Josip Smoljan (UIW) 8-7 (7-2)

2. Jair Assuncao/Tucker Brown (UIW) vs. Mikko Rajamaki/Nikita Lis (LU) unfinished

3. Michael Feucht/Trey Crysel (LU) def. Antonio Cavazos/Brandon Davis (UIW) 8-6

 
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