CONWAY, Ark.: After a slow start to the spring season that has been riddled with injuries, the University of Central Arkansas looks to get past that with a pair of OVC foes.
The Bears (0-5) hope to grab their first pair of dual victories as they head to Nashville to faceoff against Ohio Valley Conference members Austin Peay and Belmont on Sunday.
Thus far in the spring, the mainlining story has been the success of freshman Jaeun Lee. Lee received honorable mention for conference player of the week as she finished last week's invitational 2-1. Lee has played her role in various positions as injuries pushed her into the No. 3 and 4 positions in singles play. However, success has not eluded her in this new spot as she is 5-2 this spring season.
Other than Lee, multiple Bears have experienced success here and there during the spring season. Sophomore Fuka Nonoyama finished last weekend's invite 1-1 with a victory against Wyoming's No. 1 Maria Oreshkina. Junior Yada Vasupongchai also gained a match in the win column as she took down Louisiana Tech's No. 1 Leonie Schuknecht.
Now heading into this weekend, UCA will have a tough match as both squads are led by veterans in the No. 1 spot. For Belmont the main focus will be on Junior Somer Henry. Henry finished her 2019-20 season 9-9 in the No. 1 spot and 6-4 in doubles play. Henry helped lead the Bruins in the shortened campaign to a 5-5 record. This will be the first time since the 2018-19 season that Belmont will take on the Bears in dual play. In the previous matchup, the Bruins defeated UCA 4-3; however, both Nonoyama and Vasupongchai grabbed singles victories in that matchup.
As for Austin Peay, they are led by senior Fabienne Schmidt, who finished her 2019-20 campaign 9-2 from the No. 1 spot and 10-2 in doubles play. Before the shutdown, the Governers were nearly unstoppable as they were 9-3 heading into the second half of the spring season. During that shortened season, they defeated the Bears 4-3 as Nonoyama and sophomore Mei Ishimura were the lone UCA singles players to grab victories. The Bears were also able to capture the doubles point in that match with wins from the duo of Nonoyama and sophomore Chunxi Xin and the pair of Ishimura and freshman Paulina Engback.
UCA hopes to regain momentum in the doubleheader as they head to Nashville this weekend. The Bears will take on Belmont to start at 9:30 a.m. and finish out their trip against Austin Peay beginning at noon on Sunday.
