April 19, 2007

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The No. 4 seeded Lamar University women's tennis team opens the 2007 Southland Conference tournament on Friday, taking on the No. 5 seed Texas State at 11:30 a.m. at the UTSA Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Texas San Antonio.

Despite playing the SLC schedule with just five players, the Lady Cards locked up the fourth seed in the tournament. Lamar finished the regular season with an overall record of 13-9 and a SLC record of 8-3.

Freshman Kaltrina Harbuzi, who played the entire season at No. 1 singles, led the way for Lamar with a 10-1 record in conference play. She was named the Southland Conference Freshman of the year for her efforts this season.

Also playing a big role in LU's success has been sophomore Maria Gutierrez and freshman Manijee Ashrafi who have conference records of 8-3 and 9-2 respectively. Pamela Martinez, the lone senior on the team, finished the SLC slate with a 7-2 record.

Texas State ended the season with an 11-6 record overall and a 7-3 record in Southland Conference play.

In their only meeting of the season, the Lady Cardinals defeated Texas State 5-2 in San Marcos, Texas. Lamar won the doubles point and their singles matches in the top four spots, while falling at No. 5 and defaulting at No. 6.

The winner of Friday's match will take on top seed and undefeated Southeastern Louisiana at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The tournament begins at 9:30 a.m. with No. 3 seed UT-Arlington taking on host UTSA. Saturday's action will get underway at 9:30 a.m. and the tournament will wrap up on Sunday with the championship match at 11:30 a.m.