NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Central Arkansas tennis team continued to roll through the Southland Conference as they blanked the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks 7-0 on Friday afternoon. The Bears (14-6, 6-1 SLC) have won five straight, four straight conference matches and nine of their last 10. With the win, Central Arkansas slid into third place in the SLC standings.
Senior Marli Van Heerden made UCA history when she swept her opponent in singles play 6-3, 6-1 to capture career win No. 60, most in program history. Head coach Casey Wharton said that Van Heerden has been exactly what he thought she would be for his team.
"Several years ago when I was recruiting Marli, I knew that I would be excited to be her coach," Wharton said. "She seemed like someone that was going to make things better wherever she was. Looking at that four years later, it's so exciting to see all that she has been able to accomplish.
Sixty wins is remarkable."
UCA 7, SFA 0
After doubles play saw Central Arkansas take all three matches for a 1-0 lead, the Bears had little trouble with the Ladyjacks as they would produce four sweeps over six matches in singles play. Sophomore Yada Vasupongchai got her team going with a quick 6-2, 6-0 win to make it 2-0. Vasupongchai improved to 6-1 in SLC play and 9-2 at the No. 5 position. Freshman Fuka Nonoyama also improved to 6-1 in SLC play when she won 6-2, 6-3 to win her sixth in a row. Up 3-0, senior Marli Van Heerden clinched the win for the Bears when she won 6-1, 6-3 to improve to 13-5 on the year. Freshman Chunxi Xin stayed hot at the No. 1 spot with a 6-2, 6-4 win to improve to 6-2 at the top position. Senior Rada Manataweewat and sophomore Mei Ishimura closed the day for the Bears with three-set wins to ensure the complete Ladyjack sweep.
Ishimura and Vasupongchai continued their SLC doubles dominance with a 6-1 win to begin the day. They improved to a conference best 6-0. Xin and Van Heerden captured the doubles point for Central Arkansas when they won 6-4.
Wharton was proud of his team's effort, but still thought his team's performance fell short in some areas.
"Today's focus was to be positive from the very beginning," Wharton said. "I wanted to control our energy as much as we could. I think we did that and for me, I was really encouraged that we did what we wanted to do.
I don't think that the quality of our tennis was as good as we would like it to be We fought hard and stayed focused for most of the match, but overall it wasn't pretty. SFA is good and I think we got lucky."
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The Bears will travel 96 miles to Huntsville, Texas and battle with fifth-place Sam Houston State Bearkats tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. With a win, the Bears will clinch a spot in the SLC tournament.
