Arkansas Aims For Sixth Straight Win Friday

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Winners of five straight and fresh off a sweep of Wichita State and Cornell on Monday, the No. 27-ranked Arkansas women’s tennis team will host Illinois on Friday at Dills Indoor Tennis Center.

Match Day Information
Matchup: No. 27 Arkansas (8-2) vs. Illinois (3-6)
Date: Friday, Feb. 24
First Serve: 6 p.m.
Location: Fayetteville, Ark. (Dills Indoor Tennis Center)
Live Stats: Click Here

Promotions
• 
One lucky student in attendance will win a $750 Visa gift card.

•  The match will also feature complimentary Keurig coffee, pizza, popcorn and Pepsi products.

Quotable
“Hosting Illinois is another great opportunity for our players to take more positive strides,” head coach Michael Hegarty said. “Illinois plays in a great conference, and like us, they will be using this as another big test prior to conference play.”

The Series
Arkansas is 3-0 all-time against Illinois, with the last meeting coming in 1999.

Last Time Out
The Razorbacks swept a pair of matches Monday at Dills Indoor Tennis Center. Arkansas went unblemished on the day, defeating Wichita State 4-0, before beating Cornell 7-0. With the pair of victories, the Razorbacks extended their win streak to five matches and improved to 8-2 overall. Arkansas won the doubles point in both matches, highlighted by the tandem of junior Léolia Jeanjean and freshman Natsuho Arakawa who delivered the clinch in each contest.

The Illini are coming off a 6-1 road loss against then-No. 23 Northwestern on Sunday.

Ranked Razorbacks
Arkansas checked in at No. 27 in the first computerized Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis National Team Rankings of the 2017 season on Tuesday. It’s the Razorbacks’ highest team ranking since No. 24 on March 29, 2016. In the singles rankings, senior co-captain Shannon Hudson is No. 63 while, sophomore Ana Oparenovic is No. 88.

Notable
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The Razorbacks have won the doubles point in each of its last five matches. Arkansas is 8-0 this season when winning the doubles point.

•  Freshman Giulia Pairone is a combined 8-0 in singles and doubles since making her debut in the Razorbacks’ win at Kansas on Feb. 11.

•  Hudson has been dominant at the top singles spot, posting a 6-1 record. She is 11-4 overall with a 6-2 mark in dual matches.

•  Arakawa owns a team-best 15-4 overall record, including a 7-1 mark this spring.

Up Next
Arkansas will begin conference play when it hosts Missouri on Friday, March 3. First serve is set for 6 p.m.

For more information on Arkansas Women’s Tennis, follow @RazorbackWTEN on Twitter.