March 28, 2009

Results

BEAUMONT - Behind the dominating play of their top three singles players the Lamar University women's tennis team picked up a big win Saturday afternoon, knocking off Southland Conference foe UTSA 4-3 at the Cardinal Courts.

With the win the Lady Cards improve to 10-5 overall on the year and 5-1 in SLC play, while improving to 5-0 at home. The loss is the first conference set back for the Roadrunners who are now 5-1 in SLC play and 11-5 overall.

Lamar began the match by claiming the doubles point to take a 1-0 advantage. The No. 2 doubles pair of Manijee Ashrafi and Salina Aranda rolled past Monika Drabkova and Caroline Dedering 8-4, while the No. 1 duo of Maria Gutierrez and Mariaryeni Gutierrez held on for a 9-7 win over Karen Scida and Micaela Silva. The Roadrunners picked up a win at No. 3 doubles, as Nathalie Wallin and Holly Phillips held on for a 9-8 tiebreaker victory over Carla Nava and Manami Kuroda.

With a 1-0 advantage the Lady Cards quickly picked up a 3-0 advantage as Maria Gutierrez posted a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win over Wallin, while her sister Mariaryeni Gutierrez rolled past Scida 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1.

The Roadrunners responded with victories at No. 4 and No.6 to close within 3-2. Phillips took out Ashrafi 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4 and Silva fought from behind to take down Aranda 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

With Lady Cards trailing in the match at No. 5, Nava had the best chance to seal the victory for Lamar in her match at No. 3. Up a set and up 3-0 in the second set, she appeared to have the contest sealed up, but Drabkova battled back to tie the set at 3-3 and again at 4-4. With the set tied, Nava broke Drabkova's serve and to go up 5-4 and closed out the match with a 6-4 win.

In the match at No. 5 Kuroda was handed a 7-6, 6-3 loss to Dedering.

This was a great win for us today," head coach David Wong said. "The doubles point proved to be the difference and I have to give credit to out No. 2 doubles team for really playing great tennis today. In singles play, what can I say about my top three players? The three UTSA's players at one, two and three were undefeated in conference play, and we came out and handed them a loss. They're a great team and they're very well coached. This a big win for us."

The Lady Cards will be back in action next Saturday when they host the Lady Demons of Northwestern State at the Cardinal Courts at noon.

Below is a list of the Lady Cardinals results from Saturday against UTSA:

Singles:
1. Mariaryeni Gutierrez (LU-W) def. Scida, Karen (UTSA) 6-3, 6-1
2. Maria Gutierrez (LU-W) def. Wallin, Nathalie (UTSA) 6-1, 6-2
3. Carla Nava (LU-W) def. Drabkova, Monika (UTSA) 6-3, 6-4
4. Phillips, Holly (UTSA) def. Manijee Ashrafi (LU-W) 6-2, 6-2
5. Dedering, Caroline (UTSA) def. Manami Kuroda (LU-W) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
6. Silva, Micaela (UTSA) def. Salina Aranda (LU-W) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2

Doubles:
1. Mariaryeni Gutierrez/Maria Gutierrez def. Scida, Karen/Silva, Micaela 9-7
2. Manijee Ashrafi/Salina Aranda def. Drabkova, Monika/Dedering, Caroline 8-4
3. Wallin, Nathalie/Phillips, Holly def. Carla Nava/Manami Kuroda 9-8 (7-5)