CONWAY, Ark. - Southeast Missouri tennis (0-4) drops a close match to Central Arkansas (2-1) Sunday afternoon. SEMO lost 4-3 against the Bears.

The day started off with UCA taking the doubles point, which ended up proving to be a big point. Central Arkansas won all three matches during doubles play. On court one Lera Valeeva teamed up with Kristina Kozakova again and fell 6-3 too V. Vimuktananda and Konomi Miyakawa.

At the No. 2 position, Maja Bajorek and Mia Mayerová defeated Nanoka Kazama and Nanami Fukushima and also fell 6-3.

Central Arkansas's Ting-An Chen and Harune Shigemasu won against Yontha Tadoum and Claudia Casas on court three.

In singles play, the Bears split with the Redhawks going 3-3 during singles action.

UCA's No. 1, Vimuktananda defeated Valeeva in straight sets winning 6-4, 7-6. Tadoum lost a close three setter, losing the first set 6-4, taking the second set 6-4, then falling in the third set 10-7 on court two against Kazama.

Juliette Demunck captured SEMO's first point of the day beating Miyakawa 6-3, 7-6 at the No. 3 position. 

The Redhawks would go on to win the next two points on court four and court five. Bajorek took down Shigemasu in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 on court four. Then Kozakova defeated Chen at the No. 5  6-1, 4-6, 10-7.

The Bears would win on court six capturing their fourth point to win the match. Seohyun Park would defeat Mayerová 6-3, 7-5.

Coach Brooks noted what a close match it was saying, "Dang so close! UCA just came off of a great win vs Oral Roberts. Central Arkansas is coached very well and they fight hard. We put ourselves in great positions to win though. We lost a very close match at No. 6 after being up 5-3 in the second set and then we lost some momentum. We lost tough tie breakers at the No. 1 and 2 positions during singles. But Overall we are learning to become a tough team."

Speaking about the future and their upcoming match on Thursday and this weekend, Coach Brooks said, "We have 3 very difficult matches next weekend with only 2 days of practice this week. We need to rest, get into the training room, and come out strong on Thursday. One Day Better!"

Looking Ahead
The Redhawks will be back this coming Thursday, Jan. 30 in Paducah, Kentucky to take on Murray State. The match time is scheduled for 10 a.m. CT.