Troy, Alabama – Following a change of venue in and the loss of two teams to the initial tournament field, the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears finally opened the 2018 season on Saturday, taking part in the Troy Invitational.

Central Arkansas went a perfect 3-0 in doubles play on the day, as Pornpawee Pramethong and Marli Van Heerden defeated Murray State's Claire Change and Amina Hadzic 6-1. Xylia Chunan Xiang and Amiru Shimoguchi scored a 7-6 win over MSU's Sara Bjork and Jeanne Masson, and QiLi Ma and Rada Manataweewat took out the Racers' Stasya Sharapova and Aarja Chakraborty 6-3.

The Sugar Bears went 2-4 in singles play against Troy, with Xiang defeating Efriliya Herlina 6-4, 6-4 and Hee-Jin Oh picking up a 6-1, 6-3 win over Matea Mihaljevic. Shimoguchi took the first set of her match with Maria Casas Blas 6-4, before falling 6-4, 6-7, (3-10). Pramethong lost to Sanae Ohta 2-6, 2-6, Ma fell to Nanacy Karaky 5-7, 2-6, and Van Heerden was taken out 1-6, 2-6 by Pie Ju Hsieh.

Central Arkansas will face Troy and Louisiana Tech tomorrow, taking on the Trojans in doubles play and the Lady Techsters in singles action, before wrapping up the Troy Invitational on Monday, battling Murray State in doubles play and Louisiana Tech in singles. 

Results

Doubles:
Pramethong/Van Heerden (UCA) def. Chang/Hadzic (MSU) 6-1
Xiang/Shimoguchi (UCA) def. Bjork/Masson (MSU) 7-6
Ma/Manataweewat (UCA) def. Sharapova/Chakraborty (MSU) 6-3

Singles:
Sanae Ohta (Troy) def. Pornpawee Pramethong (UCA) 6-2, 6-2
Chunan Xiang (UCA) def. Efriliya Herlina (Troy) 6-4, 6-4
Nanacy Karaky (Troy) def. Qili Ma (UCA) 7-5, 6-2
Hee-Jin Oh (UCA) def. Matea Mihaljevic (Troy) 6-1, 6-3
Maria Casas Blas (Troy) def. Amiru Shimoguchi (UCA) 4-6, 7-6, (10-3)
Pie Ju Hsieh (Troy) def. Marli Van Heerden (UCA) 6-1, 6-2