Lady Cardinals Tennis Dominates Beaumont Labor Day Classic

Sept. 10, 2007

BEAUMONT, Texas - The Lamar University women's tennis team had a very strong showing at the 88th Annual Beaumont Labor Day Tennis Classic, winning the women's open singles, women's open consolation and women's open doubles title.

Newcomer Mariaryeni Gutierrez won the women's open singles title, taking down a trio of Lady Cardinals along the way. She opened with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Manami Kuroda, then took down Andrea Martinez 6-0, 6-0 in the semi finals, setting up a showdown with Manijee Ashrafi. Ashrafi was the only player to win a game on Gutierrez, but was not much, as Gutierrez posted a 6-2, 6-0 win in the championship.

Ashrafi made her way to the finals by taking down teammates Maria Gutierrez 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and Anahita Jagtiani 6-1, 6-1. Martinez won her opening round match over Jessica Phelps 6-1, 6-0 and Jagtiani was a Sandy Childress 6-1, 6-2.

Maria Gutierrez rebounded from her opening round loss to claim the consolation title, taking out Kroda in the final. She defeated her teammate 6-1, 6-2 for the title after dispatching Childress 6-2, 6-1. Kuroda advanced to the finals with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Phelps.

In the women's doubles competition the duo of Ashrafi and Martinez combined to take the title in a thrilling match against the Gutierrez sisters. The final was a hard fought battle which could have gone either way. Ashrafi and Martinez eventually claimed the title by a score of 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. On their way to the championship they dispatched Toni Mulvaney and Tara Shelander.

The Gutierrez sisters defeated Tara Coco and Cristi Ling 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the finals, while the pair of Jagtiani and Kuroda were defeated in the first round by Mulvaney and Shelander 6-4, 7-5.

The Lady Cardinals will play their first tournament as a team on September 21-23 when they play in the Rice University Tournament in Houston.