Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears returned home after a three-match road trip on Friday, hosting the Nicholls State Colonels in Southland Conference play. The Sugar Bears and Colonels found themselves locked in a hard-fought battle, with Nicholls eventually emerging with a 4-3 win.
As they have in each of their past 13 matches, the Sugar Bears (10-3, 3-2 SLC) grabbed the early edge by taking the doubles contest.
Marli Van Heerden and
Pornpawee Pramethong won their ninth-consecutive match, moving to 10-3 on the year with a 6-4 win over Stephanie Barnett and Lingfeng Gu at the number one slot, before
Chunan Xiang and
Amiru Shimoguchi secured the doubles point with a 6-3 victory over Marina Vigil and Mariia Kozachok at the number twos to mover to 8-4 on the year.
Nicholls (9-8, 2-6) evened things up after the break, as Changwei Wei delivered a 6-1, 6-2 win at the number six spot over
Rada Manataweewat, but Van Heerden got the point back for the Sugar Bears, bumping her individual record to 11-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Anastasia Kuzevanova. The Colonels would even things up again thanks to a 6-1, 6-3 win from Gu over
Hee-Jin Oh at the number two spot, but Shimoguchi would answer for Central Arkansas, taking out Vigil 6-4, 6-3 to go to 8-3 on the year. Barnett would then take the number one match 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 over Pramethong to even the overall score at 3-3, but Central Arkansas would prove unable to answer one final time, with Kozachuk slipping by
QiLi Ma 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 in the number three tilt.
"Today was far from our best tennis," said UCA head coach Casey Wharton following the match. "Our hats go off to Nicholls, because they came to play and they played hard the entire match. They just wanted it more than we did. I believe that we have one of the most talented teams in the Southland Conference, and while today was not a reflection of that, I remain confident that we will not stay here. We will learn from this and bounce back."
Wharton then highlighted the play of Ma in the number three spot, saying, "I was very proud of QiLi today, regardless of the result. Despite struggling to find confidence in her game, she never stopped fighting and making adjustments to give herself a chance to win. I think it is easy to win when we are playing well, and it is easy to give up when we are playing poorly, but the heart of a champion fights to the end of the match, not knowing how it will turn out. I believe that we will all show this type of fight before the season is over."
The Sugar Bears are back at it again tomorrow, hosting McNeese State at 11:00 AM.
