Dao Rallies for Clinching Point, Women's Tennis Defeats Central Arkansas

BOX SCORE

NEW ORLEANS – Down 5-2 in the third set with the match on the line, Trang Dao mounted a huge rally to win her match and push the University of New Orleans women's tennis team (8-1, 4-0 Southland) to a 4-3 victory over Central Arkansas (7-5, 2-3) on Sunday at the University Tennis Center.
 
Dao's rally capped off a match that went back and forth throughout the day. Central Arkansas started the day by winning at #1 and #3 doubles to take the opening point. UNO came back strong led by the top of their rotation as they gathered early momentum in singles.
 
"It was a tough match and I know we played a good team, but they had a hard match the day before," said Coach Burzis Kanga. "If we're going to compete for the conference, I would have hoped we would be more convincing, but we got the job done."
 
Anna Segarra Rius and Soledad Calderon Arroyo won their match as a tandem at #2 doubles, and each carried solid play into singles. Segarra was up a set and 4-1 in the second before her opponent retired from the match due to injury. Calderon also won in straight sets at 6-3, 6-4.
 
Hafsa Laraibi endured through a long first set before putting her opponent, Rada Manataweewat away for a 7-5, 6-2 victory. The Sugar Bears had a straight set victory of their own at #5 singles, but UNO still led 3-2. That's when Central Arkansas' Amiru Shimoguchi rallied from a set down to take the match at #3 singles, and put the spotlight on Dao's match. The freshman at #4 sealed the deal by rallying from down 5-2 in the third set to win 7-5 and score the victory for UNO.
 
Next up for UNO is a match against currently unbeaten Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (9-0,0-0) on March 13. The match is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start.
 
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