HAMMOND, La. – The Lamar University women's tennis team suffered only one setback against Southeastern Louisiana Thursday evening defeating the Lady Lions, 6-1, from the Southeastern Tennis Complex. The victory marks LU's second straight after having lost three consecutive prior.
 
The win also moves LU to 15-7 (.682) on the season, as the Cardinals keep pace with the Southland leaders with a 7-3 (.700) league mark.
 
"This was a long day," said LU head coach David Wong. "Any time you have a last minute switch to your schedule it can be stressful, for both teams, but we made the mental adjustment. Tennis is not a sport that is played late in the evenings much on the collegiate level, so our girls did a nice job adjusting to that as well.
 
"If you can come to Hammond and get a win you feel very fortunate. Southeastern is a well-coached team and they do not lose at home," added Wong.
 
The Cardinals only needed the first two doubles matches to pick up the first point of the night. The Cardinals got a 6-1 victory on court No. 3 followed quickly by a 6-2 victory at the No. 1 position. The two wins forced a stoppage on court two, a match where the Cardinals held a slim one-point advantage.
 
Senior Hanna Elfving kept the match heading in the right direction with her 6-1, 6-1 victory over SLU's Yasmin Taylor at No. 6 singles. Following the singles victory, the Lady Lions were finally able to strike back. The home team got on the scoreboard with a straight-sets victory at line two singles, but that would be as close to victory as the Cardinals would allow their hosts to get.
 
The Cardinals closed the match with four unanswered points to put the match away. The run was started by senior Katya Lapayeva who won a rare straight-sets match at No. 1 singles over the Lady Lions' Fleur Holtkamp, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6). Three of Lapayeva's last six matches have gone to a third set, with two of the three straight-set matches having at least one set go to a tiebreak, including Thursday's match. Lapayeva is 6-1 during that stretch.
 
With a 3-1 lead, the Cardinals needed only one more win to wrap up the match. The Cardinals won the first set on two of three remaining matches, with the third a loss in a tiebreak. The Cardinals won all three of those matches, including freshman Jasmin Buchta who rallied from the opening set loss to win in three. Senior Talisa Merchiers and freshman Sanja Jolic also recorded singles wins for the Cardinals.
 
The Cardinals will close the regular season Saturday with one final opportunity to improve their seeding in the tournament. The regular-season finale comes Saturday at New Orleans. The match against the Privateers will begin at 11 a.m.
 
-LU CARDINALS-