BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University's hopes at advancing to the Southland Conference Championships came to an end Sunday afternoon following a 5-2 setback to New Orleans at the Thompson Family Tennis Center. The final score was not indicative of how close the match really was. Three singles courts were forced to a third set, and three sets went to a tiebreaker before being decided.
 
"Obviously, this match really hurts," said LU head coach David Wong. "We wanted to give Stephanie (team's lone senior) one more trip to the conference tournament. I really thought every one of our players fought to the very end. They didn't give up, and I'm proud of that fact especially considering how young we are from top to bottom.
 
"I thought we had our opportunities but we were unable to close them out. That has been a problem for us all season. This hurts, but our returning players will learn from this and get better," added Wong.
 
The Cardinals were unable to feed off the adrenalin of senior day in doubles competition, dropping matches on courts 3 and 1, respectively, to fall behind early. The Privateers couldn't hold the advantage however as Big Red responded early in singles competition.
 
Sophomores Sanja Jolic and Jasmin Buchta put the Cardinals in front with hard-fought victories on courts 2 and 1, which included LU taking advantage of a little bad luck for the Privateers. Jolic scored the team's first point despite dropping her second set. Jolic's opponent, Anja Luethi, was injured on the final point of the second set and was unable to continue. A few moments later, Buchta came through with a 7-5, 6-4, victory over UNO's Trang Dao at the No. 1 position.
 
Following the two wins, it appeared momentum had shifted firmly in favor of the Red and White. Freshman Amelie Vossgaetter battled back to force a third set on court two, and classmate Milena Belianovich led by two in the decisive third set on court 6. Unfortunately, that momentum slowly started to swing back in favor of the visiting Privateers.
 
UNO picked up a tough victory on court No. 5. Although the Privateers scored the point in straight sets freshman Natalia Molina pushed UNO's Mar Gendra to the brink before getting edged, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5.
 
With the score tied at two, the fans would have to wait awhile before the final outcome would be determined as the three remaining courts were headed to a third set. Court four would be the next to finish as UNO's Yurina Asai defeated the Cards' Kaela Di Giulio, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, as the Privateers went back in front, 3-2.
 
The Cardinals looked to tie the match back up on court 3. The contest between Big Red's Amelie Vossgaetter and UNO's Claudette Gilhespie was back-n-forth all afternoon. Vossgaetter took the opening set only to watch UNO battle back for the second. Nothing changed in the third set as the two players forced it to a tiebreaker. Gilhespie rallied after falling behind, 2-0, to take the 8-6 decision in the tiebreker.
 
The Privateers closed out the match by scoring the final point on court 6 in three sets. LU ends season 5-15 overall with a 3-8 mark in conference matches.
 
-LU CARDINALS-