Central Arkansas Crowned Women’s Tennis Tournament Champions
BOX SCORE
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – In just its second appearance in the Southland Conference Women’s Tennis Championship Match, Central Arkansas took home its first league tournament title with a 4-2 win over Sam Houston State on Saturday at the Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center.
The clinching point came at the top-flight singles matchup between Freshman of the Year Chunxi Xin of the Bears and Player of the Year Sahaja Yamalapalli of the Bearkats, with Xin blanking Yamalapalli 6-0 in the decisive third set.
For the sixth-consecutive match, Central Arkansas secured the doubles point with the second and third lines picking up 6-4 and 6-0 wins, respectively.
The Bears rode that momentum into singles play with QiLi Ma and Marli Van Heerden earning straight-set triumphs to put UCA on top 3-1. Sam Houston State attempted to make things interesting with Petra Kaszas bouncing back from a 6-1 loss in set one to win sets two and three by a score of 6-2, but Xin’s victory iced it at 4-2.