UCA Tennis Splits in Kansas City

Courtesy University of Central Arkansas Athletics Department

The Central Arkansas tennis team traveled to Kansas City, Missouri to play a pair of matches on Sunday. In the first match of the day, the Bears (5-7) defeated Rockhurst 4-0 in a shortened match, and in the day’s second match, Central Arkansas fell to UMKC (3-6) by a score of 4-3.

Against Rockhurst, the Bears took all three doubles matches. Krizia Buck and Allison Murphy defeated Karsyn Betts and Christine Schatz by a score of 6-4 for their fourth victory of the season. Simona Horsikyan and Sasha Ruocco picked up a 6-2 victory over Kim de Groot and Kim Vrugteveen to move to 4-5 this year. In the final doubles match, Kristina Horsikyan and Anna Buyukyan improved to 8-2 with a 6-0 win over Abby Kayser and Tylor Searcy.

In singles play, which only featured three matches due to court space at a neutral site, Central Arkansas picked up three more points. Simona Horsikyan defeated Betts 6-3 to move to 4-8 on the season. Murphy defeated Schatz 6-1 to improve to 7-1 this season. In the final match, Kristina Horsikyan picked up a 7-5 win over Vrugteveen to 4-8.

The match against UMKC got started in the afternoon, with the teams matching up well. Laura Bouet and Eva Dalvai defeated Buck and Murphy 8-5 in the first double match. The second doubles match went to Central Arkansas, as Ruocco and Simona Horsikyan defeated Dimitra Stavrianakou and Gabby Pintos by a score of 8-4. The final doubles match, and the point for doubles play, went to the ‘Roos when Suzan Lisenby and Amelie Amsallem took down Buyukyan and Kristina Horsikyan by a score of 8-4.

Singles play was tightly contested as well, with the ‘Roos picking up victories in the nos. 1, 3, and 6 matches, and the Bears taking the nos. 2, 4, and, 5 matches. In the number one match, Bouet notched a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Simona Horsikyan, moving Horsikyan to 6-6 in singles play this year. The no. 2 match was a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory for Murphy over Dalvai, giving Murphy a 7-4 record. In the no. 3 match, Stavrianakou defeated Kristina Horsikyan, dropping her to an even 6-6 this season. In the no. 4 match, Buck defeated Lazenby 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (11-9) to improve to 7-4. Ruocco picked up the win in the no. 5 match, taking down Amsallem 6-4, 6-2 to push her record to 4-5. The day’s final match went to Maddie Schulte, who defeated Buyukyan 6-1, 7-5 to drop her to 4-2.

The Bears return to action this weekend, traveling to Des Moines, Iowa for a trio of matches. Friday morning at 9:00 am, the Bears will face Drake University, before squaring off with Nebraska-Omaha at 7:00 pm. On Saturday, the Bears will play Northern Illinois at 10:00 am.