NEW ORLEANS – Southland play continues on for the New Orleans Privateers women's tennis team (7-2, 1-1) with a pair of home matches. The first of them comes on Friday against the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears (7-5, 1-0) at 2 p.m.
The Privateers split their opening conference weekend as both matches were taken down to the wire. New Orleans won a 4-3 decision against Stephen F. Austin. A day later, they lost by the same score to Sam Houston State.
The story for New Orleans this season continues to be the strong play in doubles.
Trang Dao and
Ank Vullings remain unbeaten at flight one (5-0).
Salma Abdelrahim and
Brittany Johnson have also posted a 5-1 mark at flight two.
"I think it's going to be a good match," said Coach
Burzis Kanga. "It's been somewhat of a short week but we feel every player can step up to the plate. We're looking forward to being back on our home court and it should be a good match."
Abdelrahim had a strong weekend in total for New Orleans. The true freshman won all three of her matches between Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State. The doubles match against the Bearkats went unfinished for Abdelrahim and Johnson. In singles, Salma has put up a 5-2 mark.
Central Arkansas has won four of five matches against New Orleans. The lone Privateer win in that span was a 4-3 triumph in 2016. Last year, the Sugar Bears won by a 5-2 margin.
New Orleans will also face Northwestern State on the weekend. That match is scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m. at the University Tennis Center.
The Sugar Bears are still looking for their first true road win of the season. This year, they're 0-4 in road matches. UCA opened their conference schedule with a 5-2 win against Lamar and it was the back half of the rotation that made a difference. Central Arkansas won all singles matches between flight four, five, and six.
Marli Van Heerden has an 8-4 record in singles, all at flight one. Rada Manataweewat also has eight wins this spring between flight five and six. Yada Vasupongchai has a 7-2 record between flight four and five in 2019. As a team, the Sugar Bears have won just over 60 percent of their singles matches.
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