Beaumont, Texas – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears took to the court at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Complex to make their first-ever appearance in the championship match of the Southland Conference Tournament on Sunday. The Sugar Bears, who were looking to extend the most-successful season in program history, were unable to do so, falling to back-to-back champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 4-2.
For the first time in the tournament, Central Arkansas (21-7) was unable to secure the doubles point, as
Pornpawee Pramethong and
Hee-Jin Oh lost the number one match 6-2 to Judit Vives and Jelena Dzinic and
Marli Van Heerden and
Amiru Shimoguchi dropped the number three match 6-4 to Marina Vincens Miquel and Maria Maldonado.
The Islanders (20-2) would extend their lead to 2-0 early in singles play, when Vives took the number four match from Shimoguchi by a final of 6-2, 6-0, but Van Heerden, who clinched each of the Sugar Bears' tournament wins, came through again, taking out Maldonado 6-1, 6-2 to cut the Islander lead to 2-1. Miquel answered for the Islanders in the number six match, defeating
Rada Manataweewat 6-3, 6-1 to make the remaining three matches must-win for the Sugar Bears.
QiLi Ma would extend the match for Central Arkansas, dispatching Louise Trigona 6-2, 6-2 to again cut the Islander lead to one point, but that would be as much as the Sugar Bears could muster. Dzinic would close out the match for the Islanders, taking out Oh 6-1, 6-4 on court two.
The loss brings to a close what is easily the most successful season in program history, as the Sugar Bears set a new program record for wins in a season, eclipsing the previous mark by six and earning their best finish in the Southland Conference standings (tied for second) and highest seed in the conference tournament (third). Ma, who finished the season with a 21-4 record, set a new program record for singles wins in a season, while Van Heereden (20-8) also eclipsed the previous program record. Ma partnered with Manataweewat to go 21-2 in doubles play, with the pair setting a new program record for doubles wins in a season.
