Razorbacks Fall To No. 15 Oklahoma State

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas women’s tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to No. 15 Oklahoma State at Dills Indoor Courts on Friday.

Oklahoma State struck first, getting a quick 6-0 win on court two from No. 30 Viktoriya Lushkova and Carla Tur Mari. At the time, the Razorbacks trailed on the two remaining courts but began a furious comeback.

After trailing 1-5 on court three, the pairing of freshman Ana Oparenovic and sophomore Mia Jurasic surged back for a 7-6 (5) victory over No. 29 Katarina Adamovic and Vladica Babic to keep the Razorbacks’ hopes of clinching the doubles point alive. Focus then shifted to court one where the senior duo of Makenzie Craft and Flavia Araujo were in the midst of a tiebreaker. But Oklahoma State’s No. 17 Kelsey Laurente and Maria Alvarez held off the Razorback duo, winning 7-6 (6) to grab the tight doubles point.

In singles, Jurasic was first off the court, defeating her opponent 6-4, 6-2 on court six to put the Razorbacks on the board. However, the Cowgirls responded with three straight wins on courts four, two and one, respectively, to clinch the overall match.

Play continued on the two remaining courts. Oklahoma State’s No. 45 Lushkova defeated Oparenovic 7-6 (4), 6-3 on court three while Katarina Stresnakova edged out Arkansas junior Sasha Shkorupeieva 7-6 (4), 2-6, 10-6 on court five.

“The very encouraging thing for us is that we are quite a ways away from being full strength, yet this match could have gone either way,” Arkansas women’s tennis head coach Michael Hegarty said. “Credit to Oklahoma State. They are a great team, but we rightly felt that this one slipped out of our grasp.”

With the setback, the Razorbacks fell to 4-4 on the season.

The Razorbacks will remain home to host Old Dominion next Friday at 11 a.m.

Singles competition
1. #28 Katarina Adamovic (OKST) def. Shannon Hudson (ARK) 6-2, 6-4
2. Vladica Babic (OKST) def. Yuliya Lysa (ARK) 6-3, 7-5
3. #45 Viktoriya Lushkova (OKST) def. Ana Oparenovic (ARK) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
4. Kelsey Laurente (OKST) def. Makenzie Craft (ARK) 6-2, 6-4
5. Katarina Stresnakova (OKST) def. Sasha Shkorupeieva (ARK) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 10-6
6. Mia Jurasic (ARK) def. Carla Tur Mari (OKST) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles competition
1. #17 Kelsey Laurente/Maria Alvarez (OKST) def. Makenzie Craft/Flavia Araujo (ARK) 7-6 (7-6)
2. #30 Viktoriya Lushkova/Carla Tur Mari (OKST) def. Shannon Hudson/Agne Cepelyte (ARK) 6-0
3. Ana Oparenovic/Mia Jurasic (ARK) def. #29 Katarina Adamovic/Vladica Babic (OKST) 7-6 (7-5)

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,4,2,1,3,5)