Men's Tennis Fact Sheet #10

This weekThe No. 44 Razorbacks host UMKC and Oral Roberts at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center on Sunday March 22. The matches were originally scheduled for Jan. 27 but were rescheduled due to the ice storm that ripped through Northwest Arkansas. The Hogs’ match with UMKC is set for 11 a.m. on Sunday, followed by the Oral Roberts dual at 5:30 p.m.

Last time outThe Razorbacks went 1-2 last week against three top 40 teams. On Wednesday, Arkansas met with then-No. 34 Oklahoma State on neutral ground in Tulsa, Okla. where the Cowboys bested the Hogs, 4-1. Friday at then-No. 31 Kentucky, the Razorbacks suffered a 6-1 loss before rebounding at then-No. 39 Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon, winning the match, 4-3.

How Cox sees it (the Kentucky match)“This match was a five hour war for us and Kentucky. We have to focus on closing out matches now. The wins will come, we just have to keep after it.”

How Cox sees it (the Vanderbilt match)“The doubles point was huge. We were down a couple of match points during doubles and the guys fought back hard and got the edge for us. I’m really proud of them for fighting back like they did.”

Scouting Oral RobertsThe Golden Eagles are 1-5 overall, their win a 4-3 decision over UT-Pan American. Oleksandr Kotsuik is the top singles player for the Golden Eagles, and has defeated No. 60 Aswin Vijayaragavan of UTPA this season. Kotsuik became only the third player in Summit League history a year ago to earn Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors in the same season.

Scouting UMKCThe Kangaroos won five straight matches from Jan. 24 to March 7. The five consecutive wins were the most for the program since the 1998-99 season. Overall, the ‘Roos are 6-2 this season, the best start for the program since the 1998-99 campaign. The team has won the doubles points in six-of-seven matches this season, as the squad dropped the doubles point for the first time this season at No. 41 Nebraska on March 7.

Strode bests national-No. 2Senior Blake Strode defeated No. 2-ranked Bruno Agostinelli of Kentucky on Friday, 4-6, 6-4 7-6(0). Agostinelli was the second top five foe for Strode last week, he lost to No. 5 Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State on Wednesday. Strode is 3-2 against top 10 opponents dating back to fall tournament play and leads the Razorbacks with an overall singles record of 19-8.

Another big win for Lebedev and NottMoving up to play at No. 1 doubles against Kentucky and Vanderbilt, Arkansas doubles partners Chris Nott and Dmitry Lebedev went 1-1 in their top-spot debut weekend. Two days after falling to the No. 13 team of Bruno Agostinelli and Brad Cox at Kentucky, the Hogs posted their second win over a top 30 team, beating the No. 30 duo of Adam Baker and Alex Zotov of Vanderbilt in a tight tiebreak match, 9-8(8).

Download: 3.17 Notes 10.pdf