TULSA, Okla. – The Central Arkansas tennis team concluded Fall play over the weekend as they competed against three other teams at the Tulsa Fall Invitational in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Bears faced opponents from Tulsa, Wichita State and Houston in a three-day round robin event and walked away with some impressive wins.
 
DAY ONE – SINGLES VS WICHITA STATE
 
Court No. 1 – Sophomore Chunxi Xin started off weekend play on the right foot as she defeated Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva 7-6 (2), 6-1 in a matchup of two No. 1's to continue her solid Fall showing.
 
Court No. 3 – Freshman Maja Gledic also continued her strong Fall play as she overcame a 6-1 set one loss and took the next two 6-3, 7-5 to defeat Lingwei Kong.
 
DAY ONE – DOUBLES VS TULSA
 
Court No. 2 – The familiar junior/sophomore pairing of Yada Vasupongchai and Mei Ishimura had a successful start on the weekend as they defeated the pairing of Marina Davtyan and Shura Poppe 6-3.
 
DAY TWO – SINGLES VS TULSA
 
Court No. 1 – Xin carried momentum from her day one win into day two as she overthrew Tulsa's No. 73 ranked Martina Okalova 7-5, 7-6, (7-3).
 
Court No. 2 – Sophomore Fuka Nonoyama enjoyed her first win of the weekend as she defeated Vera Ploner 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to solidify the 1-2 Bear dominance on the afternoon.
 
DAY TWO – DOUBLES VS HOUSTON AND WICHITA STATE
 
The deadly pairing of Xin and Nonoyama grabbed their first win of the weekend as they defeated Wichita State's Marta Bellucco and Lingwei Kong 6-3.
 
Ishimura and Vasupongchai improved to 3-0 on the weekend as they blanked Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva and Natsumi Kurahashi 6-0 and later handled Houston's Azul Pedemonti and Ndindi Ndunda 6-1.
 
DAY THREE – SINGLES VS HOUSTON
 
Ishimura was the lone winner for the Bears on the final day of play as she defeated Stephanie Belovukovic 6-3, 6-2. Xin, Gledic and Nonoyama all came close to winning their final matches as all three went to three sets.
 
HEAD COACH CASEY WHARTON ON THE FALL PERFORMANCE
 
"We played a very heavy fall schedule. I'm proud of our efforts because I felt like we played how we've been practicing, and we've been practicing things we know we need to do to get better. So, I believe we are doing better.
 
Individually, we've had some great results and I think if we can keep building on the Fall then it's exciting to think about what we can do in the Spring as a team."
 
UP NEXT
 
The Bears will spend the next two months training for Spring play as they are set to open the 2020 season against 2019 NCAA Tournament foe Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma on January 12.