CONWAY, Ark.: The University of Central Arkansas dominated as they returned home for their first match at the UCA courts since October 30.
It was a complete match from the Bears as they found the rhythm they have wanted all season, which led to their 7-0 victory over McNeese.
Doubles:
It only took two matches to claim the doubles point as the teams agreed on playing till the clinch. That point was reached quickly as both of the top two teams came out with a fire under them. The No. 1 team of sophomore's Chunxi Xin and Fuka Nonoyama found that rhythm early. They only dropped one game and that was within the first three sets. From that point on, it was all the sophomores as they took it 6-1.
The junior and sophomore team of Yada Vasupongchai and Mei Ishimura followed suit in identical fashion. The duo only dropped one game before claiming the set quickly 6-1.
Singles:
If you were at the UCA courts today and blinked, you might have missed freshman Sumomo Hamanaga's match. Hamanaga had the fastest match by far as she breezed through her opponent 6-0, 6-0. Following her lead, the rest of the matches did not last long as the Bears refused to play in the third set.
Freshman Jaeun Lee grabbed her first win of the day after her doubles match went unfinished in the first portion of the match. Lee won her match 6-1, 6-2, and not to be outdone, Vasupongchai followed shortly after with a 6-2, 6-2 victory. Vasupongchai may have given the Bears the match-clinching point, but UCA was not done just yet. At almost the same time, both Xin and Nonoyama finished their individual matches. Xin claimed hers 6-4, 6-1, while Nonoyama finished hers 6-1, 6-2. After all that, freshman Maja Gledic took the day's final match as she finished up some long rallies to win it 6-1, 6-3.
Up next, the Bears return to action tomorrow as they face Southeast Louisiana at the UCA courts at 2 p.m.
Quote from Casey Wharton:
"If I had to say anything to start it is nice to be at home. I thought the weather was marvelous, I thought the crowd that came to support us was great too. For us doubles is so important; it just sets the tone and the mood for the day. Today we looked like ourselves in doubles and that let us look like ourselves in singles. This is one of the more complete matches I have seen from our whole team. Top to bottom, we looked like ourselves. The execution could get better, but overall the decision making and rhythm looked the way we wanted it to look. McNeese is a good team and I thought we just played well and now we got to get ready for tomorrow."
