April 26, 2012

Box Score

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Lamar University women's tennis team saw its season come to an end with a 4-0 loss to UT Arlington in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference Tournament on Thursday.

The Lady Cardinals (12-10), seeded sixth, were eliminated in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2005.

Third-seeded UT Arlington (15-8), the defending champion, clinched the doubles point with Maria Martinez-Romero and Nikola Matovicova defeating Lamar's Carolina Salas and Alicia Porte 8-4 and Giada D'Ortona and Natalia Mayuk knocking off Natalia Mayagoitia and Alessandra Pennesi 8-5.

The Mavericks won all three of the finished singles matches to secure their spot in the semifinals. Verena Scott defeated Alicia Porte 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, while second-team all-conference selection Natalia Mayuk took care of business on the No. 3 court, beating Carolina Maso 6-0, 7-5. Nikola Matovicova also took a straight-set victory against Alessandra Pennesi at the No. 5 position.

The No. 1 singles match between Lamar's Salas, the conference's Newcomer of the Year, and UT Arlington's Martinez-Romero, the Player of the Year, was one of three singles matches that were left unfinished.

UT Arlington advances to Friday's semifinals against seventh-seeded Sam Houston State, which posted a 4-3 upset win over second-seeded Texas State in Thursday's other early quarterfinal.

LAMAR