The UCA Bears dominated against Nicholls in their first road conference tennis tournament, resulting in 6:1 and 6:1 final score for single games. The double game was recorded as 7:6 with a tiebreak of 7:4, leaving the team with a 6:1 total score.
The Bears played three doubles and six singles against Nicholls at the Colonel Tennis Complex in Thibodaux, Louisiana on Friday, March 5, 2021.
Sophomores Chunxi Xin and Fuka Nonoyama brought home a strong victory in the first doubles match, with a six out of six game set for UCA. Their persistent teamwork allowed the other team no points in the matches.
In the second doubles match, senior Yada Vasupongchai and sophomore Mei Ishimura kept spirits high and secured a landslide victory of 6:3 games for the final score.
“UCA has played against Nicholls many times, but since I came here there were two times playing against them. We won both times,” Vasupongchai said. “As the team, everyone fought hard.”
Freshman Maja Gledic and sophomore Jaeun Lee finished the round of double games strong with a score of 7:6 games, clinching a 3:3 victory in the double games held on Friday against Nicholls.
After the match Lee said, “I have one thing that I recognized again from this match which is to stay positive and do what I have prepared or practiced for every match, so I can be better at those skills.”
The Bears Tennis team worked hard in the single games, with only one loss in all six matches.
The first game set to finish in which Gledic, pulled two 6:1 victories for UCA, led the team into a great and triumphant day.
Next, Nonoyama’s single match resulted in the same score of 6:1 in both games, keeping the Bears’ heads high throughout the other games.
The third single match to yield conquering results, ended with Lee reciprocating the same energy as Gledic and Nonoyama, walking away with 6:1 scores.
“I like to compete because I can know how much I improve with my tennis when I play a game with someone, and it makes me have more motivation when I am preparing for the next match,” Lee said.
In an unfortunate loss in only one single game freshman Sumomo Hamanaga could not secure the 6:1 victories like other teammates, and resulted in 0:6 and 4:6 losses.
Xin finished with a score of 4:6 in the first single match, a score of 6:3 in the second match and 10:5 in the final match, which was the second to last game set to yield victorious results.
Finally, Vasupongchai secured victories with scores of 7:5 and 6:3 in her single match.
Sophomore Paulina Engbäck said, “We all did very well, I think our energy overall was very good. I am proud of the team and even though there could be many things that could take away our focus, we managed to stick to our routines.”