Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears returned to Southland Conference play on Saturday morning, playing host to the Sam Houston State Bearkats at the UCA Tennis Courts. For the first time this season, the Sugar Bears fell victim to an SLC team, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Bearkats.

Central Arkansas (13-4, 2-1 SLC) started strongly, taking a 1-0 lead by winning two of the three doubles matches on the day, though Sam Houston State (6-10, 2-2 SLC) got the competition started with Carrie Casey and Mila Milanovic took the no. 1 match 6-2 over Pornpawee Pramethong and Hee-Jin Oh. QiLi Ma and Rada Manataweewat returned the favor in the no. 2 match though, taking down Fabienne Gettwart and Khee Yen Wee 6-2 to improve to 11-2 on the year. Marli Van Heerden and Amiru Shimoguchi secured the point in the no. 3 match, moving to 2-0 with a 7-5 win over Ema Barkovic and Caitlyn Mitchell.

Gettwart would even the match at 1-1 with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Pramethong at the no. 1 position, but Manataweewat immediately got the point back in the no. 6 match by taking down Mitchell 6-2, 6-4 to improve to 10-4 on the season and a perfect 3-0 in conference play. That would be all the Sugar Bears could manage on the day though, as Van Heerden dropped the no. 5 match 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 to Milanovic, Shimoguchi fell to Casey 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the no. 4 match, and Ma fell victim to Wee in the no. 3 match by a final tally of 6-3, 6-4. In the no. 2 match, Oh was taken down by Barkovic by a score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

"Today was very disappointing," said UCA head coach Casey Wharton. "Sam Houston played well, and they deserved the win. I feel that we had the talent to win, but we focused on many of the wrong things to really have a chance. I was extremely proud of QiLi and Hee-Jin, who played hard and kept fighting until the end, and my hope is that that is who we all become as a team."

The Sugar Bears are back in action tomorrow, hosting Lamar at 11:00 AM.