Box Score HATTIESBURG, Miss. – It was a tough two-match road swing for the Lamar University Cardinals who closed out the trip with a 4-1 decision at Southern Mississippi Monday afternoon. Despite the final score, the Cardinals had three singles matches go to a third set and were locked in a 5-5 tie on court 3 doubles before halting the match.
 
The Golden Eagles grabbed an early lead with victories at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles. It was a different story as the two teams transitioned to the singles competition. Big Red grabbed first set victories on four of the courts as the two teams settled in for a marathon in the second half of the competition.
 
Sophomores Arina Gudovskaya (No. 1), Luana Paiva (No. 3), Asta Miettinen (No. 4) and junior Martina Alcaino (No. 6) each jumped out to first-set leads. Miettinen would hold on to defeat Southern Miss' Miranda Xu, 6-2, 6-1, to put the Cardinals on the scoreboard with Gudovskaya surging out to a 5-2 lead in the third set. Both Paiva and Alcaino were also putting up a strong fight in the third – Paiva was tied with USM's Hannah Chambers, while Alcaino was taking a 2-1 lead into the fourth game of the final set.
 
Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles' Angelina Blinova battled back for a 7-5 victory putting an end to Lamar's hopes for a comeback and halting the remaining matches.
 
The Cardinals will now return home to host Dillard University in a doubleheader Saturday. The first match against Dillard is set for a 10 a.m. start followed by the second at 2 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.