Kaluder earns SEC tennis player of the week honors

FAYETTEVILLE – Sophomore tennis player Ela Kaluder was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week this afternoon, the SEC office in Birmingham, Ala., announced.

Kaluder is off to an undefeated start this spring, and scored one of the greatest individual victories of her short Arkansas career last Friday by knocking off University of Georgia’s No. 1 singles player.

Ranked 40th in the nation by the ITA, Kaluder swept a pair of top 25 opponents in the first weekend of SEC action, first defeating Georgia’s Natalie Frazier. Frazier, the eighth-ranked player in the nation, went down 6-4, 6-4, to Kaluder, ending a nine-match winning streak for the Lady Bulldogs’ top player.

Kaluder followed up with a 6-2, 6-1, decision over 21st-ranked Blakely Griffith of Tennessee on Sunday.

The wins give Kaluder a 10-0 mark, all on the first court, and is the longest winning streak of her career. Adding the significance, the Zagreb, Croatia, native has taken all of her spring matches in straight sets.

The Lady’Backs hit the road this week for their first SEC road matches, first at 17th-ranked Vanderbilt on Friday, March 9, then at 31st-ranked Kentucky on Sunday.

The 45th-ranked Arkansas team returns home on Wednesday, March 14, for a non-conference match with Louisiana-Lafayette.