LITTLE
ROCK
- The UALR Trojans (2-4) earned their first two wins of the 2012 spring season
on Tuesday, blanking UCA (1-1) by a 7-0 count before topping UAFS (0-1) by a
score of 5-2 at Burns Park. The Trojans garnered both doubles points and took
10 of 12 singles matches on the day.
"The matches went well today," said head coach Abby Wilson. "All the girls played
tough and the results show our improvement over the semester. We have been
focusing on the doubles point, and by winning our doubles matches today it got
the team off to a strong start and we kept the momentum going."
UALR took two of three doubles matches against UCA to
collect the first point of the day. Junior Yana
Kakovkina and Viktoriya Plyuta
teamed to defeat Allison Hartman and Allison Murphy, 9-8, while junior Veronique Luksich and freshman Michaela McShane topped Simona
Horsikyan and Kazumi Otani, 8-5, in the No. 2 matchup. Kristina Horsikyan and
Sasha Ruocco defeated freshmen Alina
Kolegova and Nina Yates in the
No. 3 match, 8-3.
The Trojans then went undefeated in singles matches against
the Bears. Plyuta came from behind to take the No. 1 match, winning 6-7, 6-3,
10-8, while Luksich won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. Kakovkina picked up another
straight-set win for the Trojans, and McShane garnered another come-from-behind
win, taking a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Hartman. Yates and freshman Alla Kravchuk both picked up victories
to round out a perfect singles performance by UALR.
The Trojans again took the doubles point in their
second match of the day, this time going undefeated in doubles against UAFS.
Kakovkina and Plyuta topped Monica Pieratt and Abby Whittemore, 8-3, before
Luksich and McShane made quick work of Amy Belanger and Masa Podunavac in an
8-1 victory. Yates and Kravchuk defeated Whitney Hobson and Stanislav Harvanova,
8-2, to round out the doubles matches.
In singles, the Trojans secured the win by collecting
straight-set victories by Lukscih, McShane and Kravchuk, while Kakovkina battled
back to win 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 in the No. 3 match.
UALR will try to replicate Tuesday's success in a road
trip to Mississippi this weekend. The Trojans will take on Alcorn State on
Saturday at 1:30 p.m., and will then face Southern Mississippi and William
Carey on Sunday.
