Conway, Ark. – The Central Arkansas tennis team continued their dazzling Southland Conference play on Sunday when they defeated the defending conference champion McNeese Cowgirls 6-1 at the UCA Tennis Courts. The Bears (13-6, 5-1 SLC) improved to 5-0 at home and have won an impressive eight of their last 9 matches.
UCA 6, MCNEESE 1
Like the match against the SLU Lions, the Bears started singles play with a 1-0 advantage and senior Marli Van Heerden got her team going in the win column. Van Heerden picked up win No. 13 on the year when she swept her opponent 6-0, 6-2 to give Central Arkansas an early 2-0 advantage. After the Cowgirls responded with a sweep of their own to make it 2-1, senior QiLi Ma captured her fifth win of the year with a 6-1, 6-3 win to give the Bears some breathing room. Up 3-1, freshman Chunxi Xin followed up her gritty Friday performance with a two-set sweep to secure the Bears' fourth straight win. Xin improved to 5-2 at the No. 1 position. Freshman Fuka Nonoyama overcame a 1-0 set deficit and won the next two 6-6, 6-3 to win her fifth straight singles match and improve to 11-5 on the year. Sophomore Yada Vasupongchai closed the day for Central Arkansas when she swept her opponent 7-5, 6-2 to improve to 12-3 on the season and 8-2 at the No. 5 spot.
Xin and Van Heerden started the Bears off right with a clean 6-0 doubles win at the No. 1 spot. Vasupongchai and freshman Mei Ishimura improved to a conference best 5-0 after solidifying the doubles point for Central Arkansas with a 6-2 victory. The deadly duo improved to 11-4 at the No. 2 spot and won their seventh consecutive match.
Head Coach Casey Wharton was very proud of his team's performance and had high praise for them after the match.
"I thought this was our best tennis so far this year," Wharton said. "The other team came out very positive and intense, but we pushed back. I'm really proud of the energy and effort across the board. I can talk all day about how well they did.
I'd like to see that kind of play from us for the rest of the year. That's the goal."
UP NEXT
The sizzling Bears will train during the week before making a weekend trip to Texas to battle the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks and Sam Houston State Bearkats in a conference-filled weekend. The Bears will stop in Nacogdoches on April 5 and finish the weekend in Huntsville on April 7.
