Fact Sheet 11
Into the lead! The Lady Razorback tennis team surprised the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Southeastern Conference with a 4-3 upset win over the No. 31 Alabama Crimson Tide. The win ties the Lady’Backs with the Tide for first place in the SEC Western Division with a conference record of 5-5.
Five in a row! Since beginning the conference season with five straight losses, the Lady’Backs have seen nothing but success for three straight weeks. The five-match conference winning streak ties puts this year’s squad second all-time in conference winning streaks. The longest conference winning streak in Lady’Backs history came during the 1998 season with seven straight wins. The Lady’Backs could tie the record with a win on Saturday, April 16, against LSU and one win in the first round of the SEC tournament in Gainesville, Fla. on April 20-23.
Further reading: How to clinch the Western Division: The Lady’Backs have never been this close to clinching the SEC Western Division. In fact, the last time the Lady’Backs won more than five SEC matches was eight years ago. It’s true, Arkansas is only one SEC match win away from winning the Western Division outright. Not bad for a team that won only one conference match a year ago.
More on LSU: The Bayou Bengals split last weekend’s pair of SEC home matches against Alabama and Auburn. The Crimson Tide handled the Tigers fairly easily on April 7 with a 5-2 win. LSU had better luck on Sunday against the Auburn Tigers with a 5-2 win. LSU controls the all-time series with the Lady’Backs, 9-15, with Arkansas’ last win over the Tigers coming in 2000. Last year in Fayetteville, LSU escaped with a 4-3 win on Senior Day.
Miseviciute sweeps weekend: Maybe it was the energy of the weekend. Maybe she just thought she wouldn’t lose for a while. Maybe she wasn’t very happy when her national singles ranking dropped from 23 to 31. Regardless, Aurelija Miseviciute won all four of her matches this weekend. Moreover, she won them big. She began on the doubles court with fellow freshman Ela Kaluder on April 7 against Auburn’s Ashley Cowart and Alex Haney. The Arkansas pair cruised to an 8-2 win. The she stepped on to the singles court to host a winner hitting for Haney in a 6-0, 6-1 win. Fast forward to April 9 against Alabama. Miseviciute and senior Melissa Cornett came from being down 5-7 in doubles against the Tide’s Natalie McElveen and Melissa Day to take the next four games in row to win and clinch the doubles point for Arkansas. Finally, as if the previous three matches just weren’t significant enough, the Klaipeda, Lithuania, native stepped onto centre court against 14th ranked Robin Stephenson. After winning the first set 6-4, Miseviciute left Stephenson in the dust, blanking her in the second set to give Arkansas the third point of the afternoon. The second set shutout marks Stephenson’s only scoreless set of the season
