FORT SMITH, Ark. – The University of Arkansas-Fort Smith women’s tennis team closed its inaugural NCAA Division II season on Sunday afternoon with a convincingly win against a familiar foe.
UA Fort Smith beat its former junior college rival Seminole State College 8-1 at Creekmore Tennis Center to close the spring on an impressive 12-match winning streak. The Lady Lions’ last loss was a 5-4 setback against the University of Central Oklahoma on March 6.
“They have taken care of business really well,” UA Fort Smith coach Bob Huckelbury said. “That was the thing I kept telling them. It’s hard to win every match, and sometimes you have a letdown. But, they did a good job of not letting that happen.”
The Lady Lions (18-5) swept all three doubles matches with freshmen Abby Whittemore and Cara Gilham beating Diana Lozano and Christina LeBarre 8-1 in the No. 1 doubles matches.
UA Fort Smith won all but one of the singles matches with freshman Emily Singleton beating Natalya Khakimova 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 1 singles match.
Singleton, Whittemore and Gilham were a part of a solid freshman class that contributed greatly to the Lady Lions’ success this season.
“They all have excellent records,” said Huckelbury of his freshmen class. “Pretty much everybody on team has good records.”
Seminole State won all three doubles matches to set the tone for its 7-2 win against the Lions. Sophomore Lubos Sobotka beat Martin Arguello 6-4, 7-6 in the No. 1 singles match and freshman Brandon Underwood beat Ryan Coffey 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles match for the Lions’ only wins.
The Lions (8-13) struggled at times with injuries this season, and that, along with the team’s youthfulness, contributed to some inconsistency.
“We are young there, too,” Huckelbury said. “This wasn’t the same schedule we played last year when we won 15 or 16 matches. There weren’t too many cupcakes there. Even the mediocre men’s teams are tough. There weren’t many easy days.
“We had some good individual performances. Lubos came on here at the end of the year, and he started to perform after getting over his injuries. Brandon had a really good freshman year.”
