Conway, Ark. – The Central Arkansas tennis team improved to 4-0 at home after they took care of the Southeastern Louisiana Lions 6-1 on Friday afternoon at the UCA Tennis Courts. The Bears (12-6, 4-1 SLC) had little trouble with the Lions as the first four singles matches were all sweeps for Central Arkansas.
UCA 6, SLU 1
The Bears began singles play with a 1-0 lead and quickly worked their way to four points to clinch the match. Senior Marli Van Heerden improved to 12-5 on the year after she took her match 6-0, 6-1 to start the dominant play for the Bears. Senior Rada Manataweewat quickly joined Van Heerden in the 12-win club as she won 6-2, 6-1 to improve to 12-4. Up 3-0, sophomore Yada Vasupongchai captured a 6-0, 6-2 sweep to solidify the Bears victory. Freshman Chunxi Xin faced reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week freshman Putri Insani for a No. 1 battle that became an instant classic. After dropping the first set 6-3, Xin responded with a 6-4 win to go to tiebreaker. After both sides battled and literally left it all on the court, Xin escaped with a dramatic 14-12 tiebreaker win to secure a 2-1 finish.
Xin and Van Heerden quickly gained the first doubles match after a Lions injury awarded Central Arkansas a 4-1 win. Vasupongchai and freshman Mei Ishimura continued their doubles dominance and won 6-3 to give Central Arkansas the 1-0 lead. The freshman/sophomore duo improved to 10-4 on the year.
Although the score showed an impressive win for Central Arkansas, Head Coach Casey Wharton thought his squad could have done even better.
"I feel like we got away with some things today," Wharton said. "I don't feel that it was clean tennis or that our energy was as good as it could have been in doubles play. I think in a lot of ways we got lucky.
The way we start our matches needs to get better if we want to go far in conference."
UP NEXT
The Bears will enjoy a rest day on Saturday before welcoming the McNeese Cowgirls to campus on Sunday. The match is set to begin at 11 a.m. on the UCA Tennis Courts.
