BEAUMONT, Texas – It was a tough day of singles for the Lamar University women's tennis team on the opening day of competition at the Joe Pyburn Memorial Invitational, but the Cardinals made up for it in doubles competition. Lamar went 2-1 in doubles matches on the day and will send two teams to a flight final. The Cardinals are guaranteed one title Sunday, but the flipside of that script was a 2-5 mark in singles play.
 
The duo of Elena Rubio and Jayci Wong posted a 6-2 victory over teammates, and LU newcomers, Nouray Metwally and Marika Mueller. The experience of Rubio and Wong paid dividends as the veteran squad took an early lead and never looked back.
 
On the other half of the bracket, Saloni Tamang and Natalia Turczuk took care of business against Sam Houston's Vianne Schwab and Linn Svaerd, 6-4. The two LU squads will meet for the flight title Sunday at 9 a.m.
 
Tamang and Linn would square off again in singles with a match that would turn into a marathon. After dropping the opening set, Tamang battled back to win the match, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. The Cards other singles win came from Turczuk in similar fashion in Flight E. After Turczuk was edged out in the first set, 7-5, she battled back to take the last two, 7-6 (7-4), 10-4.
 
The Cardinals return to action Sunday at 9 a.m. for the final round of doubles competition, with singles slated to begin approximately an hour later.