April 24, 2008

BEAUMONT - As the Lamar University women's tennis team prepares to face UT-Arlington in the opening round of the Southland Conference tennis tournament, they had five players named All-Southland Conference.

After posting a perfect 23-0 record for the year and going undefeated in SLC play, Mariaryeni Gutierrez earned first team all-conference honors at No. 2 singles and was named the conference Freshman of the Year. In conference play Gutierrez went 10-0 at No. 2 singles and 1-0 at No. 1. She becomes the second straight Lady Cardinals player to earn freshman of the year honors, joining Kaltrina Harbuzi who earned the honor last year.

Gutierrez, a native of San Antonio, Venezuela, also picked up second team all conference honors at No. 1 doubles with partner Andrea Martinez. The duo posted a conference record of 9-1 and an overall mark of 18-2. This marks the fourth season that Martinez has earned post season honors from the Southland Conference.

In 2006 Martinez, a senior from Durango, Mexico, was named the SLC player of the Year and first team all conference at No. 1 singles and at No. 1 doubles with partner Tara Shelander. In 2005 she was named second team all conference at No. 1 singles and first team all conference at No. 1 doubles with Shelander while in 2004 she earned second team all conference at No. 4 singles.

Harbuzi, a sophomore from Schneverdingen, Germany, joined Gutierrez on the SLC first team picking up the honor at No. 3 singles after posting a 10-1 record in conference play. She went 9-1 at No. 3 during the conference season and 1-0 at No. 2. For the season Harbuzi went 13-2, going 11-2 at No. 3 and 2-0 at No. 2.

Harbuzi also picked up second team all-conference honors at No. 3 doubles with partner Salina Aranda, a freshman from Kirbyville, Texas. The pair posted a record of 6-3 in SLC play and a season record of 11-4. They went 10-4 at No. 3 and went 1-0 at No. 1 doubles.

Manami Kuroda, a sophomore from Tokyo, Japan, rounded out the Lady Cardinals honors with a selection to the second team at No. 6. She posted a 5-0 mark in conference play and an overall record of 10-0 at No. 6 for the year.

The No. 2 seed Lady Cardinals get the SLC tournament started on Friday morning at 9:30 when they take on UTA. The winner of The LU vs. Arlington match will take on the winner of No. 3 seed Northwestern State and No. 6 seed Sam Houston State on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Lamar handed The Lady Mavericks a 7-0 loss on March 7, at the Cardinal Courts in Beaumont in their only meeting this season. The 7-0 win was the first ever sweep of UTA in the history of the Lady Cardinals tennis program.