Tulsa, Okla. – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears opened the 2016 season in style on Sunday morning, defeating former Southland Conference foe Oral Roberts 6-1 at the Case Tennis Center.

The Sugar Bears (1-0) came out of the gates on fire, taking a 1-0 lead by sweeping the three doubles matches. Nataly Yoo and Amiru Shimoguchi took the no. 1 match 6-1 over Jovanna Antonijevic and Ceijenia Cornelius, while Xylia Chunan Xiang and Marli Van Heerden squeaked out a 6-6 (9-7) win over Andrada Gordon and Petya Semonova in the no. 2 match. QiLi Ma and Rada Manataweewat completed the sweep with a 6-2 win over Ximena Puentes and Valentina Maya Gisbert in the no. 3 match.

Central Arkansas continued its strong showing in singles play, taking five of the six matches. Yoo cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Cornelius in the no. 1 match, and Xiang defeated Antonijevic 6-0, 4-6, 10-2 in the no. 2 match. Ma dropped the no. 3 match against Simonova by a score of 4-6, 4-6, but Shimoguchi got the Sugar Bears back on the board with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Gordon in the no. 4 match. The no. 5 match saw Van Heerden take down Gisbert 6-0, 6-2, before Manatuweewat wrapped up the win with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Puentes in the no. 6 match.

"It was good to get the season started, even though it was on the road," said UCA head coach Casey Wharton. "We played a solid opponent, so it was good to get a win. I thought our girls showed very well in doubles play, especially with the new format of no warm-up with opponents and six-game sets instead of eight. I felt like we were shaking off the rust with nerves and timing, but in the end we found a way to finish strong. We're excited that the season is here, and we're looking forward to playing UNT next week."

Central Arkansas returns to the court on Saturday, travelling to Denton, Texas to take on the University of North Texas at noon.