BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University was impressive defeating Oral Roberts, 6-1, Sunday afternoon at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Courts for their first victory of the season. The victory also locked up a men's and women's doubleheader sweep of ORU.

"I'm very proud of the this team today," said LU head coach David Wong. "This was not an easy match. ORU is a very good team, and they jumped out to a big lead in singles. There were several times where our team could've given up and assumed a loss, but they didn't. On every court, they just continued to fight and created opportunities. Then, they took advantage of those moments and got the victory. 

"My hats off to Oral Roberts. That is a talented team and they were definitely ready to play. It goes without saying that this match was a lot closer than they final score indicates," added Wong. 
 
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead after winning the doubles points in a very close competition. Although the matches on each individual court were close, ORU's lone doubles win came after the point had already been decided with the Cards picking up wins on courts 2 and 3.
 
Big Red took the early lead but it was Oral Roberts that seemed to have the momentum early in singles. The Golden Eagles stormed out to 4-1 leads on five of the singles courts and held on for opening set victories on all five courts, with sophomore Ana Jolic the lone Cardinal to pick up an opening set win.
 
At the break, the Cardinals hit the reset button on the five trailing courts forcing a third set on all five. With LU attempting to rally on five courts, Jolic took care of business at the No. 3 slot to give the Cards a 2-0 lead. The Golden Eagles trimmed the lead in half on court No. 1 but that would be as close as ORU would get as Big Red slammed the door shut on the remaining courts.
 
Beginning with sophomore Elena Rodriguez at No. 2 singles, the Cardinals rallied for four consecutive three-set victories to take the match. Rodriguez was followed moments later by Elena Rubio, who battled back from a 6-0 opening set loss, to defeat ORU's Flavia Gutierrez, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Rubio's victory sealed the team win, but sophomore Alba Perez and freshman Noelia Lorca put the finishing touches on the 6-1 final score.
 
The Cardinals return to action Thursday when the travel to San Antonio, Texas to face future WAC opponent, UIW. The match against the other Cardinals will begin at 11 a.m.