IOWA CITY, IA. - Central Arkansas tennis made massive steps towards the eventual goal of making their mark in Iowa as they sent four of their seven athletes and two doubles team to the main draw after winning in the qualifying rounds at the ITA Central Regional.

The Bears came out strong and ready as they took out their competition on their way to an overall record of 9-3 in singles and 3-2 in doubles. 

The singles portion of Day one was highlighted by sophomore Maja Gledic, junior Fuka Nonoyama, sophomore Jaeun Lee, and senior Yada Vasupongchai. These four players made that initial push as they stayed alive and are still hunting for ITA gold. For the Bears on the doubles side, it is up to the pairing of Nonoyama/Xin and Vasupongchai/Ishimura. While the rest of the squad for both singles and doubles will head to the consolation matches. All of the fun for the next round begins tomorrow at 8 a.m. as they will start with doubles at 8 a.m. 
 

Quote from head coach Casey Wharton
"When we come to regionals, there are so many good teams, and there are no easy match ups…everybody is good.  But it's also great that we can bring our entire team, and see what happens.  

Today so many great things happened.  Normally I like to measure our progress by our energy, our decisions, and our execution of the shots we have been practicing…but today, in most matches, I felt like we were successful in all of the areas that I wanted to be, and in addition that, we also had some great results.  It was a really good day.  Now we have to get up and do it all again tomorrow.  Game on."
 

Singles Qualifiers: 

R1 - Maja Gledic vs. Daria Walczak (Drake) 6-0, 6-2

R2 - Gledic vs. Daniela Hlacikova (SEMO) 6-1, 4-6, 10-4

R1 - Paulina Engback vs. Mariona Perez (St. Louis) 6-2, 6-1

R1 - Fuka Nonoyama vs. Juliana Marinez (Bradley) 6-2, 6-3

R2 - Nonoyama vs. Emma Gener (Creighton) 6-2, 7-6(4)

R1 - Jaeun Lee vs. Lizzie Barloe (St. Louis) 6-1, 6-1

R2 - Lee vs. Lucy Loy (Nebraska) 7-5, 5-7, 10-7

R1 - Yada Vasupongchai vs. Caitlyn Sporing (SIUE) 6-0, 6-0

R2 - Vasupongchai vs. Vipasha Mehra (Iowa) 6-4, 6-4

R1 - Sumomo Hamanaga vs. Elys Ventura (Mizzou) 6-4, 6-2

R1 - Mei Ishimura vs. Kelsey Neville (Drake) 6-1, 7-6(6)

R2 - Ishimura vs. Jessie Zheng (Witchita State) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles Qualifiers: 

R1 - Engback/Hamanaga vs. Bremel/ElNemr (St. Thomas) 6-1

R2 - Engback/Hamanaga vs. Rice/Cross (Arkansas State) 6-3

R1 - Vasupongchai/Ishimura BYE

R2 - Vasupongchai/Ishimura vs. Roa/Adrover (Nebraska) 7-6(4)

R1 - Lee/Gledic vs. Bremel/Paradise (St. Thomas) 6-4

R1 - Nonoyama/Xin BYE

R2 - Nonoyama/Xin vs. Ball/Baroja (UMKC) 6-2