Beaumont, Texas –

The Central Arkansas tennis team made its first ever appearance in the Southland Conference Tennis Tournament on Friday afternoon, facing off with top-seeded Southeastern Louisiana. The eighth-seeded Bears put up a fight, but fell to the Lady Lions by a score of 4-2.

Southeastern Louisiana (22-2) took two of the three doubles matches to take the first point of the day. Simona Horsikyan and Allison Murphy fell to Adriana Castillo and Renee Villarreal by a score of 8-5 in no. 1 doubles, and Kristina Horsikyan and Anna Buyukyan were edged out 9-8 by Morgane Charpenne and Nastya Tokareva in no. 3 doubles play. Central Arkansas’(12-14) lone doubles victory came courtesy of Sasha Ruocco and Krizia Buck’s 8-6 win over Isabel Brito and Reginka Nychytailova in no. 2 doubles play.

In singles play, Southeastern took three matches and Central Arkansas took two, with one match going unfinished. In no. 1 play, Central Arkansas’ Simona Horsikyan defeated 6-4, 6-2 for her twelfth victory of the season. The no. 2 match went to the Lady Lions, as Tokareva took down Murphy by a score of 6-3, 6-3. Southeastern took the no. 3 match as well, when Villarreal took down Kristina Horsikyan by a score of 6-0, 6-1. Central Arkansas earned another point in the no. 5 match, when Ruocco earned her eleventh victory of the year with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Charpenne. The no. 6 match went to Southeastern, when Brito took down Buyukyan by a score of 6-1, 6-2. The no. 4 match between Buck and Valya Rusakova went unfinished.