CONWAY, Ark. – Southeastern Louisiana's Ceci Mercier picked up a singles victory, but it was not enough as the Lions dropped a 6-1 decision to Central Arkansas in Southland Conference women's tennis action Friday afternoon at the UCA Tennis Courts.
 
SLU (5-9, 2-4 Southland) dropped the doubles point for the first time in league action. Central Arkansas (11-6, 3-1 Southland) closed out the matches by winning five of six singles matches.
 
UCA took the early lead with wins on the top two doubles courts, as the Lion duos of Putri Insani and Ximena Yanez, as well as Mercier and Vicky Scholz each were handed their first conference doubles losses of the spring.
 
An injury to Yanez forced the No. 1 SLU team to retire down, 4-1, to UCA's Chunxi Xin and Marli Van Heerden. Scholz was also pulled from singles play after she and Mercier fell, 6-3, to Yada Vasunponchai/Mei Ishimura on the No. 2 court.
 
"We played hard and it's never easy being down two players," Southeastern head coach Jason Hayes said. "We fought and did all we could, but UCA is very strong and was too much for us today."
 
With Yanez and Scholz out of singles play, the Bears picked up straight set wins on courts 2,4,5 and 6. The other two matches were decided in three sets.
 
Mercier (6-3, 3-2 SLC) outlasted Ishimura, 7-5, 5-7, 10-8, on the No. 3 court, to help Southeastern avoid the shutout. On No. 1, Insani – the reigning Southland Player of the Week – took the opening set, but eventually fell to Xin, 3-6, 6-4, 14-12.
 
"We'll have Ximena and Vicky evaluated to see when they may be able to return," Hayes said. "We have a deep team with talented players. We have to rally around each other and someone will have to step up."
 
Southeastern closes its 2018-19 regular season road schedule on Sunday, facing league-leading Northwestern State at 11 a.m. in Natchitoches.
 
Central Arkansas 6, Southeastern Louisiana 1
 
Singles:
No. 1 Chunxi Xin (UCA) def. Putri Insani (SLU) 3-6, 6-4, 14-12
No. 2 Fuka Nonoyama (UCA) def. Bernadette Dornieden (SLU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 Ceci Mercier (SLU) def. Mei Ishimura (UCA) 7-5, 5-7, 10-8
No. 4 Marli Van Heerden (UCA) def. Flory Bierma (SLU) 6-0, 6-1
No. 5 Yada Vasupongchai (UCA) def. Katya Cornejo (SLU) 6-0, 6-2
No. 6 Rada Manataweewat (UCA) def. Himani Mor (SLU) 6-2, 6-1
 
Doubles:
No. 1 Xin/Van Heerden (UCA) def. Insani/Ximena Yanez (SLU) 4-1, retired
No. 2 Vasuponchai/Ishimura (UCA) def. Mercier/Vicky Scholz (SLU) 6-3
No. 3 Bierma/Cornejo (SLU) vs. Manataweewat/QiLi Ma (UCA) 4-3, unfinished
 
40 LOVE CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the tennis program are encouraged to join the 40 Love Club. Lion tennis alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the 40 Love Club and S Club (tennis) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern tennis program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
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