Little Rock, Ark. – The Central Arkansas tennis team returned to action today, hosting the Nicholls Colonels at the indoor tennis courts at Burns Park on Sunday morning. Thanks to injuries, Central Arkansas head coach Casey Wharton had to shuffle his lineup on the day, but the Sugar Bears still rolled to a victory, taking down the Colonels 6-1.
"After last weekend's two tough losses, today was a good win," said Wharton. "Nicholls is a good team every year, adn they beat us pretty badly last year. Although they are having a tough year due to injuries, they are still dangerous."
Central Arkansas (8-5, 3-3 SLC) swept all three doubles matches on the day to take a 1-0 lead.
Xylia Chunan Xiang and
Marli Van Heerden took down Milou Pietersz and Julie Melendez 6-2 in the no. 1 match to improve to 6-5 on the season, before
Krizia Buck and
Amiru Shimoguchi secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win over Isla Brock and Laia Charles in the no. 3 match. The no.2 match saw
QiLi Ma and
Rada Manataweewat move their season record to 10-2 with a 6-3 win over Andrea Mastrippolito and Clemence Krug.
"Today we had to play without our number one player,
Nataly Yoo, due to injury," said Wharton of the Sugar Bears' match against the Colonels. "So everyone had to step up, and today's win was a total team effort. The doubles point was crucial, but we found a way to get it, and use that momentum in singles play."
In singles play, Buck earned her first win since April 22, 2014, as she took the no. 6 match 6-0, 6-2 over Mastrippolito. Xiang added to the UCA lead in the no. 1 match, as she defeated Melendez 6-1, 6-0 to move to 9-4 on the season. Brock gave the Colonels (3-10, 0-4 SLC) their only point of the day in the no. 4 match, taking down Van Heerden 6-2, 6-3. Ma prevailed in the no. 3 match, 6-0, 6-3 over Krug, while Shimoguchi pushed her season record to 11-2 with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Pietersz in the no. 2 match. Manataweewat closed out the day with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Charles in the no. 5 match.
"Krizia was able to secure our first singles point, which was huge," said Wharton. "The freshmen who have been splitting sets in their singles matches were able to win in straight sets today. I feel like we are learning from our losses, and we are gaining more confidence. We still have some work to do, and some tough matches ahead, but today was a great win."
The Sugar Bears begin a four-match road trip with a pair of matches next weekend. UCA will head to Beaumont, Texas for an 11:00 AM match against Lamar (4-5, 1-3 SLC) on Saturday, before moving on to Huntsville, Texas for an 11:00 AM match against Sam Houston State (6-6, 1-3 SLC) on Sunday.
