Razorbacks Host No. 13 Oklahoma Saturday
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark – The Arkansas men’s tennis team returns from the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Norman, Oklahoma, to host No. 13 Oklahoma on Saturday night at 6 p.m. at the Dills Indoor Courts.
Arkansas (2-4) won the doubles point and Johan den Toom defeated Gui Gomes, the nation’s No. 100 player, at No. 3 singles, but the Razorbacks were unable to rally in singles play, falling to No. 17 Illinois 4-2 on Saturday. Arkansas concluded the weekend with a 4-0 loss to No. 19 Michigan on Sunday.
The Razorbacks look to make it two wins in a row over the Sooners (4-1), having won 5-2 in Norman last season. Oklahoma will be the fourth ranked team that Arkansas will have played in the first seven matches this season.
“We’re getting ready for another top-25 team this weekend,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “Oklahoma is a tremendous program. They have been in the finals of the NCAA Championship three years in a row. We beat them last year at their place, so they will be looking to beat us this year.
“We played a good match against Illinois and we cracked against Michigan last weekend. We would like to re-establish our competitiveness this weekend. It will certainly be a challenge to win the match, and we will have to play very well to have a chance to win. But we’ll be ready to go and we hope to put our best foot forward on Saturday night.”
The Razorbacks were without Mike Redlicki, the No. 3 singles player in the nation and the highest-ranked singles player in the SEC, who missed both matches due to illness. Jose Salazar, the nation’s No. 19 player, is 3-2 in singles matches, while Redlicki is 1-2 in singles matches, and the duo are 2-1 when playing doubles together this season.
Oklahoma, up three spots to No. 13 in the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings, is off to a 4-1 start and punched its ticket to the ITA National Indoor Championships with a 4-1 win over No. 19 Michigan on Saturday and a 4-0 win over No. 17 Illinois on Sunday. Oklahoma’s only loss came on the road at No. 2 Wake Forest.
The Sooners have two nationally ranked singles players in No. 18 Spencer Papa and No. 118 Florin Bragusi and also the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week in Andrew Harris, who went 4-0 at the ITA Kick-Off this past weekend. Playing at No. 1 singles, Harris defeated Michigan’s Kevin Wong, the No. 50 singles player in the nation, and paired up with Papa for a 6-1 win over Michigan’s sixth-ranked doubles team of Wong and Jathan Malik.
The match against Oklahoma marks the first of three straight match days and seven straight matches overall at home. The seven-match home stand also includes a doubleheader against Lamar and UMKC on Feb. 4 and four matches against Jackson State on Feb. 11.
Promotions This Weekend:
Saturday, February 4th vs. No. 13 Oklahoma at 6 p.m.
- Enter to win two tickets to the men’s basketball game vs. Vanderbilt (Tuesday, Jan. 24)
- Razorback Tennis t-shirts to the first 50 fans
- Free pizza, popcorn and drinks for all fans
- Special appearance by the Hog Wild Band
For more information on Razorback men’s tennis, please follow @RazorbackMTEN on Twitter.
