Razorbacks Advance In NCAA Championship

May 13, 2017

STILLWATER, Okla. – The No. 19 Arkansas women’s tennis team turned in a strong showing in singles and doubles play to beat Wichita State 4-2 on Saturday morning at Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center in the first round of the NCAA Championship at the Stillwater Regional on the campus of Oklahoma State University.

“First off, congrats to Wichita State on a great season,” head coach Michael Hegarty said. “We felt this was as difficult a first-round match as we could have had, and we take great confidence from advancing.”

The Razorbacks (18-9) will meet host and No. 9 overall seed Oklahoma State (23-5) at 1 p.m. Sunday for the regional title and a spot in next week’s round of 16 in Athens, Georgia. The Cowgirls advanced by beating UMKC 4-0 on Saturday afternoon.

“We have prepared all season for this opportunity, and we look forward to giving everything we’ve got tomorrow,” Hegarty said.

Making its 15th all-time NCAA Championship appearance, Arkansas won the doubles point and scored three wins in singles to earn the team victory. The Razorbacks clinched the victory when Léolia Jeanjean, who is ranked No. 111 nationally, beat Tanaporn Thongsing 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.

It was Arkansas’ first win in the NCAA Championship since defeating Sacramento State 4-1 in 2011 in the first round of the Fayetteville Regional. Saturday’s win also improved the Razorbacks’ record in the NCAA Championship to 16-14 all-time and gave them a 21-1 edge in the all-time series against Wichita State.

Arkansas earned the doubles point by taking two of three from the Shockers (18-9) with Shannon Hudson and Natsuho Arakawa beating Marta Bellucco and Giulia Guidetti 6-3 at No. 3 and Ana Oparenovic and Mia Jurasic defeating Thongsing and Ting-Ya Hsu 7-5 at No. 2. Wichita State’s No. 84 Gabriela Porubin and Fatima Bizhukova defeated No. 28 Giulia Pairone and Jeanjean 6-4 at No. 1.

Although Wichita State took the first match in singles play with a win at the top spot, the Razorbacks got off to a quick start, taking the first set on four of the six courts.

Arakawa gave Arkansas its first singles victory, beating Bellucco 6-1, 6-4 at No. 6. Pairone then cruised past Porubin 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4 to give the Razorbacks a 3-1 lead.

The Shockers attempted to climb back into the match, getting a win at No. 2 from Bizhukova over No. 64 Oparenovic.

But Jeanjean reeled off back-to-back game victories in the second set at No. 3 to clinch the 6-3, 6-4 win and secure the overall victory for the Razorbacks. With the win, she improved her team-best singles record to 18-2 on the season.

On the remaining court, Jurasic led Hsu 6-3, 5-2 before play was stopped.

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