NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans women's tennis team (4-1) jumps into conference play starting with a two-match weekend against the Lamar Cardinals (1-2) on Saturday and the Sam Houston State Bearkats (5-3) on Sunday.
The Privateers were handed their first loss of the season against nationally ranked LSU on Wednesday as the Tigers posted a 7-0 victory. Including this weekend, the next seven matches are conference bouts and four of those are on the road.
"They're two big conference matches," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "The team had a good week of practice. We played a tough LSU team and that was a good indicator for us and I think they'll be ready for the test this weekend. Mentally, they keep on getting stronger and stronger."
New Orleans is hoping to duplicate the success of this stretch last year against the pair of East Texas schools. In the spring of 2015, the Privateers defeated Lamar by a 5-2 count and swept Sam Houston State 7-0 to start the conference ledger at 2-0.
The Cardinals are coming in with three matches under their belt. The last was a 4-0 loss to Louisiana Tech in Ruston. Lamar owns a win over Arkansas State and lost to Rice to open up their spring schedule. The Cardinals do not have any seniors on their roster. Katya Lapayeva, a returner off of last year's squad has played at #1 singles.
Sam Houston State had a three-match winning streak snapped last Sunday at the hands of Texas-Arlington. Prior to that loss, the Bearkats had picked up wins over Montana State, South Dakota State, and Missouri State. Maddie Mortimore has been an asset to the back of the rotation, acquiring a 7-1 singles record while playing between the four and six spot in the rotation.
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