The UCA women’s tennis team (11-8, 4-2 ASUN) was defeated 3-4 by Stetson University (17-2, 5-1 ASUN) in Deland, Florida in their last match on Friday, April 8.
The ASUN match-up consisted of three sets of doubles and six singles. The team struggled early on in the game with Stetson scoring nearly all the points. Chunxi Xin and Fuka Nonoyama from UCA went up against Alanna DiFrancesco and Elodie Foster from Stetson in the first doubles match.
Stetson scored the first doubles point and ended up winning the match after receiving the first four points.
The Bears were also defeated in the second set of doubles played by UCA’s Mei Ishimura and Yada Vasupongchai and Stetson’s Nadejda Maslova and Cheri Darley. UCA only scored a 15 in this doubles match, leaving room for Stetson to score the remaining points.
The second doubles match finished first, followed by the first and the third one remained unfinished.
“We played well, and we had our chances. In the end, the other team just outplayed us overall” coach Casey Wharton said.
However, the Bears were able to succeed and prove themselves more during the singles matches. They achieved two rallies from the No.1 and No.2 spot. Fuka Nonoyama, junior, lost 6-4 in the initial set but won the next two sets with 6-3 and 6-4. Nonoyama was able to continue her undefeated streak of 6-0 in this game.
Chunxi Xin, junior, also rallied after falling behind. She fell behind 6-4, but in the next set won 6-4 and finished the tiebreaker with a victory of 11-9.
“I was really proud of Cici and Fuka in their singles matches. They had to play smart and hard the entire match, and they were able to do that,” Wharton said.
Maja Gledic, a sophomore, also played strong in her singles match. Defeating Stetson’s Elodie Foster in both the first and second set, 6-3 and 6-1.
Sumomo Hamanaga did not live up to her teammates in her own single match, having not scored a point at all against Stetson’s Noa Cohen.
Yada Vasupongchaiand Jaeun Lee both lost their singles matches as well against Alanna DiFrancesco and Cheri Darley.
“We played well, and although it was a loss, in many ways it felt like a win. We will regroup and hopefully have another chance to play them in the conference tournament,” Wharton said.
The team is now on a three-game losing streak, which they look to break back at home.
The team’s next match will be against Florida Gulf Coast University on Thursday, April 14, in Conway at the UCA Tennis Courts.