Oct. 27, 2005

BEAUMONT, Texas - The Lamar University men's tennis team will head to Louisiana this weekend for Hibernia Bank Classic, hosted by the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Friday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Oct. 30 at Cajun Courts. The Lamar women will participate in the Louisiana-Lafayette tournament on Nov. 4th through 6th.

"With the problems caused by Hurricane Rita, we were not able to complete our fall schedule the way we had hoped we would in the beginning of the year," Lamar head tennis coach David Wong said. "We didn't get to play in as many tournaments, and didn't get to compete against as many other schools, but this tournament gives us that chance. There are some really good teams at this tournament, and it will be good for our players to get back on the court."

Lamar will have five players participating in the tournament, three in flight A singles and two in flight B singles. Ben Weatherford, Filip Kanczula, and David Wanja will play in the A flight, while Tyler Cobb and Brett Sticker will compete in the B flight. Kanczula and Wanja will pair to compete in the flight A doubles, while Weatherford and Sticker will play in the B doubles.

In addition to Louisiana-Lafayette, the event will feature nine other teams, including Alcorn State, Arkansas-Little Rock, LSU, Mississippi State, Rice, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Miss. and Texas-Arlington. LSU and Mississippi State finished last season ranked 10th and 23rd respectively, by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

The tournament will include 48 players in singles competition, 32 in flight A and 16 in flight B. In doubles action, there will be 12 teams in flight A and eight teams in flight B.

Flight A singles will begin Friday, at 8:30 a.m., with flight B singles immediately following at 10 a.m. Flight A and flight B doubles will commence Friday, at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, flight A and B singles semifinals will begin at 10:30 a.m. Doubles semifinals for flights A and B will begin Saturday, at 3 p.m. The championship round for singles play will start Sunday, at 10 a.m., with doubles championship action immediately following at 12 p.m.

Cardinals First Round Match-ups:
Flight A singles- Friday, 8:30 a.m.
Ben Weatherford, LU vs. Phillippe Frayssinoux, Miss. St
Filip Kanczula, LU vs. Marc Lux, Southern Miss.
David Wanja, LU vs. Martel Campbell, LSU

Flight B Singles-Friday, 10 a.m.
Tyler Cobb, LU vs. Manuel Gonzalez, UT-Arlington
Brett Sticker, LU vs. Tommy Maestri, Southern Miss.

Flight A doubles- Friday, 4:30 p.m.
Kanczula & Wanja, LUvs. Farquharson & Omata, UT-Arlington

Flight B doubles- Friday, 5:30 p.m.
Weatherford & Sticker, LU vs. Babinciue & Paunic, SELA