Natchitoches, La. – The Central Arkansas tennis team dropped its first conference match of the year when they fell 4-3 to the Northwestern State Lady Demons on Saturday afternoon. After taking the doubles point, the Bears (9-6, 3-1 SLC) lost the first three singles matches and could not overcome the early deficit. Down 3-2, senior Marli Van Heerden nearly tied the score with a three-set duel before dropping the last one to Lady Demons' Patrycja Polanska.
 
UCA 3, NORTHWESTERN STATE 4
 
Entering singles play up 1-0, Central Arkansas quickly fell behind as Northwestern State took the first three matches. Down 3-1, freshman Chunxi Xin overcame an early 1-0 deficit and took the next two sets to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to give the Bears a chance. Van Heerden found herself in Xin's shoes as she dropped the first set but recovered with a 7-5 set two victory. Set three went back and forth but Van Heerden eventually fell 4-6. Freshman Fuka Nonoyama ended the day with a gritty 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 win to finalize the score at 3-4. Nonoyama improved to 8-5 on the year.
 
In doubles play, Nonoyama and senior Rada Manataweewat started the Bears off with a 6-3 win. Freshman Mei Ishimura and sophomore Yada Vasupongchai followed their teammates with a 7-5 win to solidify the opening point for the Bears. Ishimura and Vasupongchai improved to 8-4 on the year.

Head Coach Casey Wharton praised his team for fighting through adversity on Saturday. 

"I loved how Marli (Van Heerden) was sick and never stopped fighting," Wharton said. "Mei (Ishimura) was behind her entire match and nobody could know that based on how hard she tried every point. 

I was very proud, not only of what we did, but how we did it."
 
UP NEXT
 
The Bears will take a quick break from conference play with matchups against the Murray State Racers and the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters on March 19 in Mobile, Alabama. The first match with the Racers is set for 10 a.m.