Conway The Central Arkansas women's tennis team returned to Southland Conference play on Saturday, hosting the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks at the UCA Tennis Courts. The Sugar Bears showed well on the day, taking down SFA 5-2.
The Sugar Bears (6-5, 1-1 SLC) took the early lead, sweeping all three doubles matches.
Xylia Chunan Xiang and
Marli Van Heerden gave UCA the edge in doubles play, scoring a 6-1 win over Valeria Terentyeva and Vanesa Calvo Pardo 6-1 in the no. 2 match, before
QiLi Ma and
Rada Manataweewat secured the point with a 6-2 win over Liza Aginskaya and Lauren Hidalgo-Smith in the no. 3 match.
Nataly Yoo and
Amiru Shimoguchi finished the doubles sweep with a 6-4 defeat of Denise Maxl and Dhanielly Quevado in the no. 1 match.
"Today was absolutely electric," said UCA head coach Casey Wharton. "We knew SFA would be good, because they're the type of program that is good every year. We came out with high-percentage doubles, but we also took our chances when we could, and were able to control the momentum."
Xiang struck the first blow in singles play, taking down Quevado 6-3, 6-2 in the no. 2 match to extend the UCA lead, but Aginskaya countered for SFA with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 defeat of Manataweewat in the no. 6 match. The no. 3 match saw Ma push the Sugar Bears' lead back to two matches with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 victory, before Yoo clinched the win with a hard-fought 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win in the no. 1 match.
Shimoguchi improved her singles record to 8-1 on the season with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 win over Hidalgo-Smith in the no. 4 match, while Van Heerden dropped the no. 5 match against Pardo 6-2, 3-6, 7-6.
"SFA refused to give up," said Wharton. "They came out and won the first set in five of the singles matches, so it could have easily gone the other way and ended with us being handed a tough loss. But our girls battled back and every one of them won the second set to push their matches to a third.
"Chunan was able to get a great win in straight sets over a very talented player, which gave us a 2-0 lead, but we still had to win at least two of the remaining five matches. We were able to win QiLi's match at no. 3, and I was so proud of her for winning that match from behind to make it so we just needed one more win to get the overall team win. Nataly Yoo, a senior, was battling through injury, as she has for most of the year, but she stepped up and found a way to win our match and clinch the victory.
"Rada was able to get it to a third set, but couldn't get the win, and Amiru and Marli each played to a third-set tie-break. We were able to win one, but not the other. I was proud of each and every one of our players today, and now we're focused on resetting for tomorrow."
The Sugar Bears continue SLC play tomorrow, welcoming Northwestern State to the UCA Tennis Courts at 11:00 AM.
