Conway – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears locked up their spot in the 2018 Southland Conference Tournament on Saturday, defeating the Northwestern State Lady Demons 4-3.

Northwestern State (14-7, 8-2 SLC) grabbed an early lead in the doubles contest, as Polina Ivanova and Polina Mutel took down Pornpawee Pramethong and Marli Van Heerden 6-1 in the top slot, but the Sugar Bears (13-6, 6-3 SLC) evened things up when QiLi Ma and Rada Manataweewat defeated Emilija Dancetovic and Ela Iwaniuk 6-2 in the number three match for their 13^th pairs win of the season. Amiru Shimoguchi and Chunan Xiang would then secure the doubles point for Central Arkansas, taking out Judit Castillo and Kateryna Avram 6-4 in the number two match to move to 11-5 on the year.

Ivanovo would get the point back for the Lady Demons, opening the singles competition with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Xiang in the number two match, and Castillo scored a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Shimoguchi in the number five match to put Northwestern State up 2-1. Van Heerden evened the match up with her 14 win of the season, a 7-5, 6-2 win in the number six match against Avram, before Mutel put the Lady Demons a win away from a match victory with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 defeat of Pramethong in the number one match, but Hee-Jin Oh kept Central Arkansas alive with her 12^th win of the season, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Dancetovic at the number three slot. Ma would drop the opening set of the decisive number four match against Iwaniuk  6-7 (3), before rallying with a 6-4 win in the second set to force a third set, which she swept 6-0 to secure the victory for Central Arkansas.

"Today was one of the hardest-fought matches we've played all year," said UCA head coach Casey Wharton. "Northwestern State is unbelievably good this year, and we knew it would be difficult. I have to give credit to our girls, especially Jinny and QiLi, who pulled out great wins after losing the first set; that was really special. Now we need to recover and get ready for Stephen F. Austin and our last home match of the season."

The Sugar Bears will close out the home portion of their schedule tomorrow at noon, hosting Stephen F. Austin. Prior to the match, Central Arkansas will honor seniors Shimoguchi and Oh, who will be taking to the courts in Conway for the final time.