HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston women's tennis team will battle its two biggest rivals from 34 years of Southland Conference action in dual matches this weekend.
The Lamar Cardinals visit the McAdams Tennis Center Friday. Sunday the Bearkats travel to Nacogdoches to face Stephen F. Austin. Both contests begin at 1 p.m.
Sam Houston faced off with SFA 41 times, and Lamar 40 times between the Kats' first Southland tennis season in 1988 and its farewell SLC campaign in 2021. No other teams have appeared as an opponent on the Bearkat schedule in SHSU history than the Lumberjacks and the Cardinals.
"Because Huntsville is just two hours from both Nacogdoches and Beaumont, SFA and Lamar were our biggest rivals in the Southland Conference," Bearkat head coach Rob Hubbard said. "To battle with them again, both in the same weekend is exciting. We are well aware that the matchups are special. We lost to Lamar 4-3 last year and are ready for a little pay back. We beat SFA last spring and hope for a repeat."
Sam Houston stands 3-3 to date while Lamar brings a 4-3 mark to Huntsville on Friday. SFA owns an impressive 6-2 non-conference record.
Hubbard points to the doubles point as a key to victory this weekend.
"We've been playing really good doubles the whole way," Hubbard said. "We've won the the doubles point in four of our six matches. We came so close to winning the other two. We were a point away from taking the doubles at Northwestern State and had multiple chances to earn the point versus McNeese. We have to be ready in the end to close it out because that doubles point is really critical."
The 2024 Bearkats roster features a wide range of experience. Seniors Paula Cerda and Sahithi Vutukuru, junior Megan Basson and sophomores Aaliyah Hohmann, Vianne Schwab and Linn Svaerd provide experience while freshmen newcomers India Fenleys and Roberta Sechi bring young talent to the lineup. Cerda sports a 5-1 record in singles and a 5-1 mark as a doubles partner. Fenieys and Hohmann both stand 3-2 in singles play.
Sam Houston opened the season at home with 7-0 and 5-0 victories over Prairie View A&M and a 6-1 win versus Texas-Tyler. The Kats lost road contests at Texas State 4-3 and Northwestern State 5-2. McNeese topped Sam Houston 5-2 in the Kats' most recent outing in Huntsville.
