22 Sep 2021 Bears grab wins in bunches as they finish the UCA Invite

CONWAY — Central Arkansas Tennis had a successful weekend during their home tournament as they tallied 12 single wins and nine doubles victories. 

The Bears had one top finish and three second-place finishes in terms of singles. They claimed one top finish, two second-place finishes, and one unfinished championship bracket from the doubles side. 

UCA in this ten-team tournament had tons of success as they were one of the top teams in the Invitational. No one player was more impressive than sophomore Maja Gledic, though, as she claimed championship honors in both singles play (Flight 5) and doubles with her partner sophomore Jaeun Lee (Flight 3D). In their doubles bout, the pairing outscored their opponents 18-5, while Gledic did a similar thing in the singles semi-finals and finals as she outscored her competition 24-6. 

Singles- 

Flight 1 Results:

Chunxi Xin vs. Grace Dodd (Harding) 6/0, 7/5, 10/7

Xin vs. Tatum Rice (Arkansas) 2/6, 6/4, 12/10

Xin vs. Adel Abdullina (Central Oklahoma) 2/6, 3/6
Flight 2 Results:

Fuka Nonoyama vs. Laura Baroja (UMKC) 6/2, 6/4

Nonoyama vs. Sarah Bureau (Murray State) 6/4, 6/4

Nonoyama vs. Morgan Cross (Arkansas) 0/6, 5/7
Flight 3 Results:

Yada Vasupongchai vs. Lena Milosevic (Southern Arkansas) 6/2, 6/4

Vasupongchai vs. Laura Rijkers (Arkansas) 3/6, 2/6

Flight 4 Results:

Jaeun Lee vs. Riddhi Sharma (UMKC) 6/2, 6/4

Lee vs. Nejla Zukic (Arkansas State) 6/0, 6/0

Lee vs. Lenka Stara (Arkansas)

2/6, 6/3, 4/10

Flight 5 Results:

Maja Gledic vs. Presley Southerland (Arkansas) 7/6(3), 6/3

Gledic vs. Greta Wallin (Southern Arkansas) 6/0, 6/2

Gledic vs. Jordina Font (Murray State) 6/2, 6/2

Flight 6 Results:

Sumomo Hamanaga vs. Tiana Fox (McNeese) 3/6, 6/2, 10/2

Hamanaga vs. Sofia Vdovychenko (Arkansas State) 4/6, 6/4, 10/12

Hamanga vs. Emily Carpenter (Harding) 8/5
Flight 7:

Mei Ishimura vs. Rebecca Brody (Arkansas State) 6/1, 0/6, 9/11

Flight 8:

Paulina Engback vs. Rachel McCrea (Harding) 4/6, 0/6

Engback vs. Eva Kresovic (UMKC) 2/6, 2/6

Doubles- 

Flight 1D:

Xin/Nonoyama vs. Xbilia/Baroja (UMKC) 6/3

Xin/Nonoyama vs. Fox/Bernabeau (McNeese) 6/3

Xin/Nonoyama vs. Cross/Rice (Arkansas) 2/6

Flight 2D:

Vasupongchai/Ishimura vs. Milosevic/Wallin (Southern Arkansas) 6/3

Vasupongchai/Ishimura vs. Abidulina/Boyar (Central Oklahoma) 6/3

Vasupongchai/Ishimura vs. Stara/Rijkers (Arkansas) 5/7

Flight 3D:

Gledic/Lee vs. Senupta/Miley (Oral Roberts) 6/1

Gledic/Lee vs. Britt/E. Carpenter (Harding) 6/2

Gledic/Lee vs. Buntrock/Chadick (Central Oklahoma) 6/2

Flight 4D:

Engback/Hamanaga vs. Gill/Yoshimura (Southern Arkansas) 6/1

Engback/Hamanaga vs. McCrae/Heide (Harding) 6/2

Quote from head coach Casey Wharton:

“It was a long weekend, but a good weekend. We had a lot of good teams and a lot of competitive flights. There were no short matches and no easy matches. Every court looked close and many of the scores reflected that. I am grateful for all the fans that came to the event and all the coaches and players. I am also proud of my team, for how they compete, I like to believe when we go out on the court we are going to get better. I thought today and yesterday we got better, and I’m proud of how we played. It’s a great start to the season.”