Lady Cardinals Tennis Rolls Past Northwestern State 6-1 :: Lamar hand NSU their first SLC loss to improve to 8-1 in conference play

April 12, 2008

NATCHITOCHES, La. - The Lamar University women's tennis team picked up a huge Southland Conference victory over the Northwestern State Lady Demons on Saturday afternoon, winning 6-1 in Natchitoches, La.

The Lady Cards improve to 19-2 on the year and 8-1 in SLC play with the win, while Northwestern State falls to 14-6 overall and 8-1 in conference play with their first SLC setback. The 19 wins are the most for a Lamar women's tennis team since the 1984 team won 21 matches and it passes the 18 wins picked up by the 1997 team.

"This is a huge win for us," Lady Cardinals head coach David Wong said. "Northwestern State has a very good team which is evident by their record. I have a lot of respect for their head coach Patric DuBois and the job he has done of building the program here. We played very well throughout our lineup and earned a very important victory."

The Lady Cardinals started the match by winning the doubles point with victories at one and two, while the match at No. 3 was claimed by Northwestern. Andrea Martinez and Mariaryeni Gutierrez took down NSU's Bogusia Patzer and Daniela Posada 8-3 at No. 1 while Maria Gutierrez and Manijee Ashrafi combined for an 8-4 win over Kathrin Lange and Bianca Schulz at No. 2. The Lady Demons took the match in the three spot as Adna Curukovic and Marie Scriba defeated Kaltrina Harbuzi and Salina Aranda 8-5.

In singles play the Lady Cardinals won at the top four spots and at No. 6 to pick up five points. Martinez defeated Patzer 6-1, 7-5 at No. 1, Mariaryeni Gutierrez rolled past Lange 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2, Maria Gutierrez took down Schulz 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 and Manami Kuroda outlasted Dragana Colic 6-4, 6-7 (3), 10-8 at No. 6. Harbuzi won the match clinching point at No. 3, battling back from a 4-0 hole in the first set to claim the match 7-5, 6-1.

"Kaltrina played a great match and showed a lot of fight," Wong said. "The way she played today really showed what a tough player she is, and how tough we can be as a team. These young ladies will not quit on their teammates."

The lone victory for Northwestern State came at No. 5 where Posada took down Aranda 6-4, 3-6, 10-6.

The Lady Cards will be back in action on Sunday at 9 a.m. when they take on the Sugar Bears of Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark. They will wrap up the regular season next Wednesday afternoon at the Cardinal Courts when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 2 p.m.