HAMMOND, La. – The Lamar University women's tennis team advanced to the finals of the George E. Fourmaux Invitational with a pair of wins on Saturday.
 
The Cardinals started the day with a 4-1 victory over Southland Conference foe Nicholls before edging another Southland Conference foe, New Orleans, by a 3-2 score in the afternoon.
 
The Cardinals will face archrival McNeese for the championship at 9 a.m. Sunday.
 
The LU duo of Anita Bozhko and Stephanie Marchena gave the Cards an early 1-0 lead with a 6-3, 7-5, victory in doubles competition. The Cardinals took that one-point advantage and never looked back.
 
Sophomore Jasmin Buchta defeated Nicholls' Stephanie Barnett, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8, at the No. 1 singles position to give the Cardinals a two-point advantage. Classmate Sanja Jolic added to the lead with a 6-3, 6-0, decision at No. 2 singles over Lingfeng Gu.
 
"We played really well today," said LU head coach David Wong. "Jasmin defeated the girl who was the Southland Player of the Year two seasons ago for Nicholls."
 
The Colonels could manage only one victory, which came at the No. 3 position, before freshman Natalia Molina put the finishing touches on the match. Molina recorded a three-set victory over the Colonels Marina Vigil, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 10-5, for the final score.
 
Against New Orleans, Buchta and Jolic posted straight-set wins at singles to give the Cardinals the team victory, after the teams split the doubles matches.
 
"It was another awesome performance for the Lady Cards," Wong said. "We are really focused on the process and we got the results we wanted."
 
The tournament at Southeastern Louisiana concludes the fall season for the Cardinals. Big Red opens the spring schedule Saturday, Jan. 20^th at Rice.
 
-LU CARDINALS-