Women's Tennis Squeaks By Lamar in Southland Opener

BOX SCORE

BEAUMONT, Texas – The back half of the University of New Orleans women's tennis team's rotation all came up with wins as the Privateers (5-1, 1-0 Southland) won 4-3 over the Lamar Cardinals (2-3, 0-1) on Saturday at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
 
Trang Dao, Hafsa Laraibi, and Yasmine Rashad all came up with wins in singles and the match clincher of those wins came in three sets as the difference was razor thin between both teams in their conference opening match.
 
Laraibi was the last to finish and she earned the clinching point for UNO. After winning the first set in a tiebreak, Laraibi lost the second to her opponent, Stephanie Marchena. The third set was close, but Laraibi prevailed at 6-4 to seal the victory and start the Privateers off on a winning note in Southland action.
 
Rashad and Dao came up with straight set victories in their matches. Rashad had to endure a tiebreak in the second set en route to a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win over Luciana Di Laura. At #4 singles, Dao won 6-3, 6-3 over Talissa Merchiers.
 
The Cardinals picked off a pair of three set wins at the top of the rotation as Katya Lapayeva and Andrea Ivanovic won at #1 and #2 singles respectively. However, UNO won the first point of the day in doubles, again enduring tough matches in the process. Soledad Calderon Arroyo and Anna Segarra Rius won 6-4 at #2 doubles while Dao and Anja Luethi won by the same score line at #1 doubles.
 
The Privateers are back on the court at Sam Houston State on Sunday. The match is scheduled for a 10 a.m. start.
 
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