BEAUMONT, Texas – After picking up a hard-fought victory in doubles to take a 1-0 lead, Lamar University used the bottom half of its lineup to turn in dominating performances as the Cardinals cruised to a 6-1 victory over UT Rio Grande Valley Sunday afternoon at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center.

"We knew coming in that every point was going to be a battle," said LU head coach David Wong. "UTRGV is always well-coached team and they came in here ready to play. I tip my cap to them because it's always an intense match when you face them. That is there style and they keep that intensity up from the first serve until the final point, but I want to credit our young ladies. I thought we matched it point for point today. It wasn't an easy match, and we had to work hard to get the win. We now need to turn our attention to a very tough road trip coming up"
 
The Cardinals (2-4) got doubles wins from the teams of Femke Tjon-A-Joe and Margarita Nikonorova at No. 1 doubles, followed by Jayci Wong and Saloni Tamang on court 3 to take 1-0 lead.
 
After transitioning to singles, the Cardinals never let up keeping the pressure on their guests and it showed as Big Red got decisive victories at Nos. 6 and 5 singles, respectively. Freshman Megan Do made it a 2-0 match with straight-set decision over the Vaqueros' Stefanie Wilske, 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6. Elena Rubio gave the Cards an insurmountable lead at No. 5 with her 6-1, 6-3 decision over Daniela Rosenberger.
 
With those two wins in the books, Lamar needed just one more win on the four remaining courts to claim the overall victory. The Vaqueros answered back with a close match victory at No. 3 that saw UTRGV's Marjorie Souza take a first-set lead just slipping by Ana Jolic with a 7-6 (7-5) tiebreaker win in the opening set.
 
UTRGV held on for a single match win, but it was too little too late as the Cardinals closed out the day with three-straight victories including three-set victories coming on courts 2 and 4. The decisive victory came at No. 1 singles that saw Femke Tjon-A-Joe methodically dismantle her opponent, 6-3, 6-3.
 
The Cardinals return to action Saturday, Feb. 18 when they travel to Abilene, Texas to take on former Southland Conference foe, Abilene Christian. The match against the Wildcats will begin at 9 a.m.