BEAUMONT, Texas – Any thought of a letdown after Lamar University's thrilling one-point victory over the league leaders was quickly eliminated after the doubles competition as the Cardinals defeated Incarnate Word, 7-0, Sunday afternoon from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
The victory – LU's (9-4/3-1 SLC) third in a row – came just 24 hours after the Cards knocked off defending Southland champion and league leading Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a match that lasted more than five hours.
In the last 48 hours, Big Red has moved from a two-way tie for seventh in the Southland race into five-way tie for second just a loss back of Central Arkansas.
"Prior to yesterday's match, we talked about how we were the hunter. After yesterday's victory we felt like the scenario has changed and we need to view ourselves as the team being hunted. Meaning, we have to be ready for everyone's best shot every day," said LU head coach
David Wong. "We didn't want to come out here and still be thinking about yesterday because UIW is too good of a team and if you're not focused they will make you pay for it. Today was a hard fought match, and I'm proud of how our girls prepared themselves.
"You have to take your hat off to Incarnate Word. They battled hard on every court today. This was a very good win for us," added Wong.
UIW's version of the Cardinals (3-13/0-4 SLC) jumped out to a quick start winning the first doubles match of the afternoon with a 6-1 decision on court two, but the hometown Cardinals quickly shutdown any momentum. The team of freshman
Jasmin Buchta and senior
Hanna Elfving won their match at the No. 3 spot, while seniors
Katya Lapayeva and
Anna Spengler took care of business on court 1 to clinch the point.
UIW's only victory of the day would come at No. 2 doubles, as the Red and White opened the flood gates with quick victories on singles courts two, four and three, respectively. Spengler got the singles' scoring started with her 6-1, 6-0 decision over Rachel Sadiq at line two singles, followed by a straight-sets winner from senior
Talisa Merchiers over UIW's Sarah Savedra (6-3, 6-4) at the No. 4 position. Buchta wrapped up the team match with her quick three-set victory on court No. 3, 6-0, 2-6, 6-2.
Not to be outdone, Lapayeva followed minutes later with a quick three-set victory. Lapayeva, who appeared to be headed for a loss rallied late for the second consecutive day to force a third set and eventually get the win. She found herself down a set and trailing in the second before rallying to pick up a 6-3 decision in the second. After that, Lapayeva cruised to a 10-0 decision in the super tiebreak.
After the team match was locked up in the win column for Beaumont's Cardinals is when the real fireworks on the court began. After a delay on court six, there was a scoring disagreement on court five. The disagreement lasted nearly 20 minutes before play could be resumed – and was long enough to allow court six to finish with an Elfving victory over Alejandra Tamayo, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
When play resumed on court five, Jolic took control of the match. The LU freshman put the final point on the scoreboard by throttling Incarnate Word's Maria Batchinsky, 6-3, 6-4.
The Cardinals will get 48 hours to prepare for Omaha. The match against the Mavericks will begin Tuesday at 1 p.m. from the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
-LU CARDINALS-
