University of Arkansas - Fort Smith tennis coach Bob Huckelbury could have asked for more favorable weather conditions, but he couldn’t have asked for a much better performance from his Lady Lions on Saturday afternoon.
UA Fort Smith, which is a provisional NCAA Division II member, opened the spring season with a convincing 8-1 win against the Division II Henderson State Lady Reddies at Creekmore Tennis Center.
“It was a good way to start the season,” said Huckelbury, who is in his fifth season as coach.
UA Fort Smith played under constant cloudy conditions with temperatures hovering in the low- to mid-40s. It didn’t seem to faze the Lady Lions as much as pre-match jitters may have early on.
“They were all a little nervous and started off a little slow,” Huckelbury said. “Then, they kind of kicked it in. It was a pretty solid win.”
Of course, it helped that the Lady Lions (1-0) set the tone for the match by winning all three doubles matches.
Freshmen Cara Gilham and Abby Whittemore teamed up to beat Meredith Massey and Rebecca Staton 8-2. Freshman Emily Singleton and junior McKenzie McCullough combined to beat Stephanie Schnobel and Estephanie Lau 8-2, and sophomores
Stanislava Harvanova and Tamra Bryson teamed up to beat Lacey Hawkins and Emily Eggleston 8-2.
“I would like it to be that way all the time,” Huckelbury quipped. “Nothing is ever easy, though.”
Singleton, who moved from No. 2 to No. 1 singles, beat Massey 6-0, 6-0, and Gilham, who played through a knee injury, beat Staton 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles to secure the win for the Lady Lions.
UA Fort Smith won five of the six singles matches.
“The girl Emily beat was a pretty darn good player,” Huckelbury said. “Cara has a bad knee, and she limped through her entire match and won 6-0, 6-0. That kind of shows how good she is. Emily beat her yesterday in practice, and she’s hurt, so we just switched them.”
The Lady Lions will resume play on Wednesday when they play NCAA Division I University of Arkansas - Pine Bluff at 10 a.m. in North Little Rock, Ark., and play Division I University of Arkansas - Little Rock at 3 p.m. in North Little Rock.