The Harding women's tennis team competed in their first tournament of the fall on Friday and Saturday at the UCA Fall Invitational in Conway against seven NCAA Division 1 schools and two other NCAA Division 2 schools. Eleven Lady Bisons competed in both singles and doubles. 
 
Sophomore transfer Grace Dodd represented the Lady Bisons in Flight 1 singles and finished sixth. Dodd dropped her opening round match but bounced back against Grace Ball from UMKC, winning 6-4, 7-6 before dropping her final match. 
 
Romane Britt played in Flight 2 and won her first-round match against Arina Sorokina from Oral Roberts, 6-2, 6-2. Britt fell in her last two matches to players from the University of Arkansas and McNeese State. 
 
Emily Carpenter competed in the Flight 6 bracket and finished in fourth. She won her opening match 6-2, 7-5 against Nastia Timofeyeva from UMKC before falling to players from Central Oklahoma and Central Arkansas. 
 
Junior transfer Jing Jing Yang finished tied for third in Flight 7. Yang defeated Luna Morini from Oral Roberts in the first round but fell to Rebecca Brody of Arkansas State. Rachel McCrae finished tied for third in Flight 8 and defeated Paulina Engback from Central Arkansas. Emily Heide made her collegiate debut at Flight 9 and defeated Honoka Yoshimura from Southern Arkansas in three sets, 6-1, 2-6, (10-2).
 
In Doubles action, Dodd teamed up with Allison Carpenter at Flight 2 and went 1-2. The duo dropped their first two matches to teams from Arkansas State and McNeese State before beating Lena Milosevic and Greta Wallin from Southern Arkansas, 6-0. 
 
The Lady Bisons most successful doubles team from last season, Romane Britt and Lindy Carpenter, finished fourth in Flight 3 doubles after winning their first-round match against McNeese State's Mailed Mulatero and Ariane Monlleo Sanchis in a tight 7-6 set. 
 
Two Lady Bisons teams were in Flight 4. McCrae and Heide won their opening round match against Arkansas State, 6-4. Yang teamed up with Emily Carpenter to defeat Oral Roberts in their opening round match in a tiebreaker. After both teams dropped their semifinal matches, they faced each other for third place, with Yang and Carpenter winning 6-1. 
 
The Lady Bisons will return to action next Friday and Saturday, September 24-25 at the GAC Individual Championships in Russellville, Arkansas.