Sept. 22, 2008

NACODOCHES, Texas - In their first action of the fall, the Lamar University women's tennis team put on a masterful display at the Stephen F. Austin Open, going 14-1 in singles play and 6-0 in doubles action.

Mariaryeni Gutierrez led the way for the Lady Cardinals at No. 1 singles, going 3-0 to claim the flight one title. She began play with a pair of wins on Friday, taking down Lena Sage of Louisiana-Monroe 6-1, 6-1 and Sureena Weir of Tyler Junior College 6-0, 6-1. In Saturday's championship match Gutierrez was again impressive, taking out SFA's Roxy Enica 6-2, 7-5.

At the No. 2 spot Maria Gutierrez posted a 3-0 record to claim the title. On Friday she took down Luisa Cantu of UT-Pan American 6-0, 6-1 and Cornish of McNeese State 6-2, 6-4. In Saturday's final she took out Alina Shuzkho of SFA 6-3, 6-4.

Manijee Ashrafi played in the No. 3 flight for LU and was just as dominant as her teammates. In Friday's action she rolled over SFA's Fanjana Kapur 6-0, 6-2 before taking out McNeese State's Petra Gudelj 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the final. In the championship match Ashrafi dismissed Louisiana Monroe's Maria Lehman 6-3, 6-2.

At No. 4 newcomer Carla Nava made an immediate impact for the Lady Cardinals as she claimed the top spot in the flight. She began with a pair of wins on Friday, taking out Tyler Junior College's Kelly Rittenhouse 6-2, 6-0 and holding on for a 6-3, 4-6, 10-3 win over Sharon Makhanya of Louisiana Monroe. In Saturday's final Nava cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Megan Bedeau of UTPA.

In Flight five Manami Kuroda picked up a pair of wins on Friday as she took out Kacey Bulls of TJC 6-1, 6-0 and Gaby Gadeva of SFA 6-2, 6-1. In Saturday's final Kuroda dropped the only match of the tournament for Lamar, as she retired midway through the second set against Claire Clark of ULM.

Lamar was just a dominant in doubles action, claiming the title in both the No. 1 and No. 2 flights.

In flight No. 1 the Gutierrez sisters downed Gadeva and Smolnikova of SFA 8-4 on Friday before beating ULM's Satge and Makhanya 9-7 to advance to the finals. In the championship match they cruised to an 8-2 win over Roxy Enica and Shuzkho of SFA.

In No. 2 doubles the pair of Ashrafi and Kuroda defeated Willerding and Cantu of UTPA 8-2 and Lehman and Clark of ULM 8-2 to advance to the championship match. In the final the Lady Cardinal pair rolled over Kapur and Andi Enica of SFA 8-4.

The Lady Cards will be back in action this weekend when they return to Nacogdoches, Texas for the SFA Invitational.