March 25, 2015

Final Stats

LAFAYETTE, La. - A doubles sweep fueled the Lamar women's tennis team as the Lady Cardinals clinched their third-straight win on a 5-2 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday at the Cajun Courts.

"The momentum looks it could be starting to shift," said head coach David Wong. "The girls are starting to get more confidence as we go and now we just need to get it all going."

Lamar (6-8) claimed the doubles point with wins on courts one and two, and swept win a win on three. On No. 1 Carolina Maso and Kayta Lapayeva defeated Nelo Phiri and Elena Sava, 8-3. The team holds a season mark of 3-4 and are 2-2 from line one.

The second court clinched the doubles point after Anna Spengler and Andrea Ivanovic took down Alexandra Way and Abby Johnson 8-3. Even with the point clinched, both programs agreed to play out the third court win that was close, but Hanna Elfving and Stephanie Marchena won 8-6.

"We were very solid in doubles," said Wong. "I felt that got the ball rolling for us. Court three ended up being tighter than we expected because we had a 7-2 lead, but we were still able to finish it."

Ivanovic and Elfving improved their team record to 5-3, and have clinched three straight matches. Elfving and Marchena defeated Kelly Drew and Lauren Dupuis to claim a 3-3 mark and also pushed their win streak to three.

In singles action, court two tied the match at 1-1 after Louisiana-Lafayette's (3-12) leader in wins, Drew, defeated Anna Spengler, 6-3, 6-1. Marchena quickly gave LU the lead against when she downed Lauren Dupuis 6-2, 6-0 from position six.

It was freshman Marchena's fourth straight win and improved her singles mark to 6-3 and 4-3 on line six.

After Maso's 6-1, 6-2 win on No. 4 gave the Lady Cardinals a 3-1 lead, Ivanovic clinched the match on a 6-4, 7-5 win on line three. Maso's win over Alexandra Way improved her record 8-4 and was the fifth victory in a row. Ivanovic, who defeated Elena Sava, is 6-8 on the season and 3-4 from the third court.

"I thought we were very focused and determined throughout the match," said Wong. "When the girls play like that, more times than not the outcome will be favorable."

Abby Johnson notched the Ragin Cajuns their second point after a three-set match against Hanna Elfving. Johnson took the first set 6-4, Elfving battled back for a 6-2 set two win, but Johnson prevailed 6-1 in the last set.

Katya Lapayeva won in a three-setter to improve her season record to 5-9. She overcame Nelo Phiri 6-3 in the first set, but Phiri answered with a set two win (6-3). Lapayeva bounced back to win 6-1.

Lamar gets back in to Southland Conference play for the rest of the season at Central Arkansas on Saturday morning at 11 o'clock. It is the last road match of a four-game swing before the Lady Cards return to the Thompson Family Tennis Center on April 3 for a match up with Incarnate Word.