NEW ORLEANS, La.: The University of Central Arkansas fell short of claiming their second straight conference match as they lost 4-3.
The Bears claimed two of the three doubles matches but couldn't muster the same strength in singles as they dropped the road contest against New Orleans.
Doubles:
UCA got the ball rolling early as they established strength in their doubles play. The No. 1 team of sophomore Chunxi Xin and Fuka Nonoyama dominated in the early goings as they got the victory 6-2. Following them was the success of the No. 3 team. After dropping the second match, the Bears had to make a run in the third to claim that doubles point. They did exactly that as the freshmen team of Maja Gledic, and Jaeun Lee continued their recent successful run. The pairing battled into extra sets as they eventually won it 7-5.
Singles:
After claiming the doubles point, the Bears were in the advantage position. UCA needed three matches to win the overall dual but fell short after almost all the singles matches went into the third set. Out of the two that only went two, UCA won one of them as freshman Jaeun Lee claimed the contest's first singles match. Lee decimated her competition as she outscored the UNO No. 4 12-2 in the 6-1, 6-1 victory.
After that point, the Bears continued to battle but fell short in almost all of the contests remaining. One of the most significant battles was No. 1 Xin versus the Privateers Ank Vullings. Vullings finished last year 10-0 and continued her success in the first match of the season. These two measured well against each other, and it made for a great match as Vullings eventually claimed it in the third set. Junior Yada Vasupongchai also had success as she came out on the opposite side and won her match in the third set. She claimed the first set 6-4 before losing it in the second 6-2 and then finally making her stand to take the match with a 6-4 victory in the third.
Up next, the Bears will come home after the short road trip as they have McNeese and Southeastern Louisiana scheduled for this coming weekend. UCA will face the Cowgirls on Friday and the Lady Lions on Sunday.
Quote from coach Casey Wharton:
"Today, I wanted us to be simple and solid and have a fundamental gameplan because we knew it was going to be windy, and they were going to be good. That way, we could just focus on our energy and execution of our shots. I thought we did that we were simple and solid; we just didn't win enough of the big points. I was very proud of our attitude and effort, and I think we got better today even though the score didn't go our way."
