Nacogdoches, Texas – The seventh-seeded Central Arkansas Sugar Bears opened the 2016 Southland Conference Women's Tennis Tournament against host and second-seeded Stephen F. Austin. The Sugar Bears earned their first-ever SLC Tournament win, taking down the Ladyjacks 4-1.

As they have all season long, the Sugar Bears (14-8) took the doubles point and rode that momentum throughout the match. All-SLC second-team members Rada Manataweewat and QiLi Ma gave UCA an early edge in doubles play, taking the no. 3 match 6-1 over Vanesa Calvo Pardo and Liza Aginskaya, before Nataly Yoo and Amiru Shimoguchi secured the point with a 6-3 win in the no. 1 mach against Denise Maxl and Dhanielly Quevado. The no.2 match between Xylia Chunan Xiang and Marli Van Heerden and SFA's Valeria Terntyeva and Lauren Hidalgo-Smith went unfinished with Xiang and Van Heerden holding a 5-4 lead.

Central Arkansas extended its lead early in singles play, as Van Heerden took the no. 5 match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0 over Pardo and Shimoguchi picked up a 6-3, 7-5 straight-set win over Hidalgo-Smith in the no. 3 match. Stephen F. Austin (12-10) got on the board in the no. 1 match, where Maxl rallied to defeat Yoo 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, but Xiang closed out the match with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Quevado. The no. 4 match between Ma and Terentyeva went unfinished with Ma leading 5-7, 6-4, 2-0, and the no. six match went unfinished with Krizia Buck leading Aginskaya 5-7, 6-3, 5-2.

The Sugar Bears will take to the court at 2:00 PM tomorrow afternoon, taking on third-seeded Northwestern State. The winner will move on to the Southland Tournament Championship match, which is scheduled for 2:00 PM on Sunday.