Razorbacks tripped up by No. 58 Gamecocks

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 15 Razorbacks women’s tennis team dropped their second straight SEC conference match at the hands of No. 58 South Carolina on Sunday at Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center, by a score of 6-1. With the loss, Arkansas moves to 10-4 overall and 0-2 in the SEC.

After losing their conference opener just two days before, the Hogs got a better start to their match in doubles. Sophomore Kate Lukomskaya and freshman Kelsey Sundaram jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead at the No. 2 spot, before allowing Miljana Jocic and Madeleine Saari-Bystrom to cut the margin to 6-5. Arkansas then went on to win the next two games to win at court two, 8-5, for the first doubles win of the afternoon.

South Carolina answered back at court one after Dijana Stojic and Ana Marija Zubori defeated the No. 18-ranked doubles team of Anouk Tigu and Claudine Paulson, 8-4.

The doubles point was left up to the competitors at court three, which ended up going into a tiebreaker. However, the team of sophomore Stephanie Roy and Valentina Starkova could not pull out the win against Anya Morgina and Adriana Pereira, 9-8 (5).

In singles play, the Gamecocks got a quick win at the No. 2 spot to extend their lead to 2-0, but the Hogs returned the favor at court four when Roy defeated Saari-Bystrom in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

With the team score 2-1, Arkansas got a strong performance by Starkova, who dropped the first set to Pereira, 6-3, but then led the second set 6-5 before eventually falling 7-6 (5) in the tiebreaker.

South Carolina took that momentum in to the clinching match at court three after No. 111-ranked Morgina defeated sophomore Emily Carbone, 6-3, 7-5.

At the top of the lineup, No. 54-ranked Anouk Tigu battled hard against No. 72 Zubori in the first set, taking it to a tiebreak before falling, 7-6 (5). She then dropped the second set, 7-5.

The Razorbacks return home for their next two conference matches against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The match against Ole Miss will be on Friday, March 12, starting and noon and the match against Mississippi State will be on Sunday, also at noon. Both matches will be played at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center. For complete coverage of the Razorback women’s tennis team be sure to log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.Complete ResultsNo. 15 Arkansas 1No. 58 South Carolina 6Doubles Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*No. 1 Dijana Stojic/Ana Marija Zubori (USC) def. #18 Anouk Tigu/Claudine Paulson 8-4No. 2 Kate Lukomskaya/Kelsey Sundaram (ARK) def. Miljana Jocic/Madeleine Saari-Bystrom (USC) 8-5No. 3 Anya Morgina/Adriana Pereira (USC) def. Stephanie Roy/Valentina Starkova (ARK) 9-8 (5)SinglesOrder of Finish: 2, 4, 6, 3*, 1, 5No. 1 #72 Ana Marija Zubori (USC) def. #54 Anouk Tigu (ARK) 7-6 (5), 7-5No. 2 Dijana Stojic (USC) def. Kate Lukomskaya (ARK) 6-3, 6-2No. 3 #111 Anya Morgina (USC) def. Emily Carbone (ARK) 6-3, 7-5No. 4 Stephanie Roy (ARK) def. Madeleine Saari-Bystrom (USC) 6-1, 6-4No. 5 Miljana Jocic (USC) def. Kelsey Sundaram (ARK) 7-6 (5), 6-7 (0), (10-6)No. 6 Adriana Pereira (USC) def. Valentina Starkova (ARK) 6-3, 7-6 (5)