Beaumont, Texas – The Central Arkansas women's tennis team made its sixth-consecutive appearance at the Southland Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon, taking the Sam Houston State Bearkats. Despite taking an early lead thanks to yet another strong doubles performance, the Sugar Bears were unable to advance, falling 4-2.

As they did in 16 of their 20 regular season matches, the Sugar Bears (14-7) staked themselves to an early lead by earning the doubles point, All-Southland Conference First Teamers Amiru Shimoguchi and Chunan Xiang opened things up for Central Arkansas, taking the number twos against Fabienne Gettwart and Khee Yen Wee 6-1, before Pornpawee Pramethong and Marli Van Heerden closed outthe doubles contest with a 6-4 win over Carrie Cassie and Mila Milanovic in the number one match.

Lusine Chobanyan got the point back for SHSU (14-5) opening singles play with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Shimoguchi at the fives, before Milanovic defeated Van Heerden 6-4, 6-0 in the number six tilt to put the Bearskats in front 2-1.

Pramethong responded with a 7-6, 6-2 defeat of Gettwart at the top spot to even the match at 2-2, but the tie would be short-lived, as Wee defeated Hee-Jin Oh 6-3, 6-1 in the number three contest and Sahaja Yamalapalli closed things out with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Xiang in the number two match.

The season, which is the third-straight that sees the Sugar Bears win at least 14 matches, marks the close of the careers of a pair of UCA greats in Shimoguchi and Oh. Shimoguchi ends her career with 45 singles wins, the third-most in school history and her .672 winning percentage (45-22) is the second-highest program history. Her 41 doubles wins rank fourth in school history. Despite spending just two seasons in Conway, Oh has also made her mark on the UCA record books, where 21 wins are the twelfth-most in school history.