No. 18 women's tennis falls in second round

FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 18 Razorback women’s tennis team lost Saturday in the second round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend to No. 19 Michigan, 5-2, at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center. The Hogs were able to get strong matches from the number two and three singles spots, but we’re not able to come out on top.

“This was a super weekend for all the teams that were here,” said head coach Michael Hegarty. “It was good for our team to get the toughness of matches in this early in the season.”

Arkansas (3-1) fell behind early in the match after losing the doubles point, but were able to get a doubles win from the team of junior Anouk Tigu and freshman Claudine Paulson at the number one spot. They defeated Michigan’s Denise Muresan and Tania Mahtani, 8-6.

The Razorbacks fought hard throughout the singles matches to try and bring the match even, but the Wolverines proved too tough for the Hogs as they won two out of the first three matches that went final in straight sets. Michigan clinched the match at the number 6 spot as Michelle Sulahian defeated freshman Valentina Starkova, 7-6, 6-3. With the win, they were able to advance to the ITA Indoors Championships to be played in Madison, Wis.

“Michigan is a heck of a tough team,” said Hegarty. “We were right there to win a few matches, but you have to give Michigan credit as they were able to pull out the win.”

There were a few bright spots for Arkansas as sophomore Kate Lukomskaya defeated Rika Tatsuno in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4, at the number two spot and sophomore Emily Carbone defeated Tania Mahtani in three sets, 7-6(3), 6-3, 1-0(4).

The Razorbacks will be back in action on Friday, February 5th when they take on Utah at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center. First serve is set for 1 p.m.Complete ResultsMichigan 5Arkansas 2DoublesOrder of Finish: 3, 1, 2*No. 1 Anouk Tigu / Claudine Paulson (ARK) def. Denise Muresan / Tania Mahtani (U-M) 8-6No. 2 Whitney Taney/Rika Tatsuno (U-M) def. Kate Lukomskaya / Kelsey Sundaram (ARK) 9-7No. 3 Mimi Nguyen/Michelle Sulahian (U-M) def. Stephanie Roy / Valentina Starkova (ARK) 8-3SinglesOrder of Finish: 5, 1, 2, 6*, 3, 4No. 1 Denise Muresan (U-M) def. Anouk Tigu (ARK) 6-1, 6-0No. 2 Kate Lukomskaya (ARK) def. Rika Tatsuno (U-M) 6-0, 6-4No. 3 Emily Carbone (ARK) def. Tania Mahtani (U-M) 7-6 (3), 3-6, 1-0 (4)No. 4 Whitney Taney (U-M) def. Kelsey Sundaram (ARK) 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10)No. 5 Mimi Nguyen (U-M) def. Claudine Paulson (ARK) 6-3, 6-2No. 6 Michelle Sulahian (U-M) def. Valentina Starkova (ARK) 7-6, 6-3