Miseviciute 4th Lady'Back to qualify for main draw at Riviera

LOS ANGELES – Arkansas junior Aurelija Miseviciute becomes the fourth Lady Razorback to qualify for the main draw at the Riviera/ ITA All-American Championships.

“I knew it was going to be tough to qualify, especially playing against such tough competition, but it was my goal coming into this tournament,” said Miseviciute, the No. 119 ranked single player. “I had confidence in myself and it helped me make it to the main draw.”

Coming all the way from the pre qualifier, Miseviciute was able to stave off six opponents, four of whom were nationally ranked, and qualify for the main draw of the tournament. By winning Wednesday, she joins teammates Ela Kaluder in singles, and Maryori Franco and Nanar Airapetian in doubles, in the main draw.

Miseviciute toppled 23rd overall ranked Kirstin Flower from Georgia Tech, 6-2, 6-1, to make it into the main draw. She is set to play at 2 p.m. Thursday against Stanford’s Jessica Nguyen who brings a national rank of 15 into the match.

Kaluder will begin her match play at 4 p.m. against No. 64 ranked Whitney McCray of Georgia Tech.

In the doubles main draw, senior Maryori Franco and junior Nanar Airapetian will get their first action in two weeks when they face off against the number one overall doubles pair in the nation, William & Mary’s Megan Moulton and Levy Katarina.

In doubles consolation on Wednesday, Miseviciute and Kaluder won their first match by defeating North Carolina doubles pair of Sanaz Marand and Austin Smith, 8-4. Their second match against Georgia Tech’s Noelle Hickey and Christy Striplin, was no different as the Arkansas pair won, 8-1.

After winning two doubles matches on Wednesday, the Arkansas pair will now head into the semifinals of the doubles consolation bracket on Thursday.

As the main draw of the Championships gets underway on Thursday, be sure to find out how the Lady’Backs fair in the tournament by staying tuned to LADYBACKS.com