Razorbacks Advance at ITA Central Region

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Two Arkansas doubles teams occupy half of the final four spots in the doubles competition at the Wilson/ITA Central Region Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The top-seeded team of Colin Mascall and Blake Strode and the duo of Dmitry Lebedev and Chris Nott advanced to the semifinal round after two wins Friday. Strode is also still alive in singles play and has reached the quarterfinals.

Mascall and Strode played their round of 16 match against Taylor Boney and Mark Take of Nebraska and came away with an 8-3 win to move into the next round. In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Razorbacks took down the Arkansas-Little Rock team of Edson Abrao and Rain Roigas, 8-4.

On the bottom half of the doubles draw, Lebedev and Nott picked up an 8-4 victory over Saint Louis’ PJ Hendrie and Adam Reeb to start their day. Lebedev and Nott claimed their second win of the day when they defeated Albert Ballesta and Thiago Dos Santos of Wichita State, 8-2.

“It’s always good to see our doubles playing so well,” head coach Robert Cox said. “Blake and Colin are playing well and I’m really pleased with the progress of Chris and Dmitry to reach the semifinals.”

In Friday’s semifinals, Mascall and Strode will face Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Dmytro Petrov of Oklahoma State, while Lebedev and Nott will take on Oklahoma’s Federico Chavaria and Andrei Daescu.

In round of 16 singles action, Strode made quick work of Nebraska’s Hendrik Stahmer, 6-1, 6-0, to advance to the quarterfinals where he will face Dalibar Pavic of Drake. Arkansas’ other main-draw singles competitor, Nott, was defeated, 6-2, 6-2, by Daescu.

Singles action will begin at 10 a.m. CT Friday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa. The doubles semifinal matches will take place after the day’s singles matches are complete. Log on to www.hogwired.com for complete results of Razorback tennis.