BEAUMONT, Texas – Freshman
Jasmin Buchta battled back from a disappointing loss in a second-set tiebreak to defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Judit Vives, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, Saturday afternoon at the Thompson Family Tennis Center. The match was the final victory in a thrilling afternoon that saw Lamar University stun the reigning Southland Conference Champion A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, 4-3.
"Today was a dogfight between us and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi," said LU head coach
David Wong. "We have high respect for the Islanders. They are the defending conference champions. I'm extremely proud of how we competed up and down the lineup.
"We came together as a team and finished the process. I thought our doubles played extremely well today and that really set the tone for the rest of the match. Now we need to regroup and get ready for Incarnate Word," added Wong.
The Islanders came to Beaumont 8-1 (.889) on the season and leading the Southland Conference with a perfect record. That all changed after Saturday's tilt with the Cardinals (8-4/2-1 SLC) which lasted more than five hours.
The doubles point foreshadowed how the rest of the afternoon would shape up. After splitting Nos. 2 and 3 doubles, the point came down to court No. 1. Seniors
Katya Lapayeva and
Anna Spengler were locked in a tough battle against the Islanders Jelena Dzinic and Vives. LU forged into the lead and put their guests away, 6-3, in a match that took more than an hour to complete. All three doubles matches ended with the same score.
The Islanders responded to the challenge by cutting off the Cards' momentum early in singles. A&M-Corpus Christi took victories on courts four and six to claim their first lead of the match, 2-1, before LU freshman
Sanja Jolic stopped the run at the No. 5 position. Jolic outlasted the Islanders' Maldanado, 6-4, in the opening set before cruising to a 6-1 victory in the second.
The next match gave A&M-Corpus Christi back the advantage at line two singles, 3-2. Facing defeat, the Cardinals had to have the final two matches to pull out the victory. Early on, that didn't appear to be promising as Buchta took her opening set but senior
Katya Lapayeva needed to win her second set to force a third, and that is when the roles reversed.
After jumping out to a big lead in the second set, Buchta found herself unable to put Vives away in the second. Vives continued to hang around until she edged Buchta in a second set tiebreak, 7-6 (7-5), forcing a third set and stealing the momentum from the home team on court three.
While Buchta struggled in the latter stages of her second set, Lapayeva seemed to find her stroke. She posted a 6-1 win in the second to force a third as well.
With both matches headed to a third set, Lapayeva jumped out to a huge lead and never looked back. She recorded a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over the Islanders' Hortense Boscher on court one to tie the match at 3, placing all eyes on court three.
Buchta found herself playing catchup in the third set. After dropping the first two games she finally got on the scoreboard by winning the third, and was nearly forced to go to a second-straight tiebreak. With the score tied, 5-5, Buchta rallied to win the final two games and the match for the Cardinals.
Winners of two straight and three of their last four, the Cardinals now turn their attention to the Incarnate Word Cardinals. The match against UIW is slated to begin at 1 p.m. from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
-LU CARDINALS-
