Singles shine 6-1 over No. 50 Auburn

AUBURN, Ala. – Senior Aurelija Miseviciute clinched 28th-ranked University of Arkansas Razorback women’s tennis team’s first Southeastern Conference win of the season, 6-1, over No. 50 Auburn on Sunday.

“This was a total team effort all across the board,” said Razorback head coach Michael Hegarty. “The Sunday match in an SEC weekend is always a real gut-check.”

The Hogs (6-3, 1-1) came through big in doubles before completely dominating the Tigers (6-5, 1-1) in singles.

With the match tied at 1-1, the Razorbacks collected five-straight singles matches from Auburn. Sophomore Anouk Tigu, No. 97 in singles, upset No. 35 Alex Haney, 6-3, 6-3, to put Arkansas ahead. Senior Ela Kaluder continued her stellar play in SEC action, 6-2, 6-3, over Whitney Chappell, setting up the clincher for Miseviciute.

Miseviciute and Kaluder clinched the doubles point earlier for the Hogs, then Miseviciute was able to polish off the win, 6-4, 6-3, over 2008 SEC Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Year, Fani Chifchieva.

Arkansas came on strong Sunday, as the Tigers were riding high from a win over No. 18 LSU on Friday.

“Auburn has an extremely tough squad so this win means a lot, and we definitely brought our ‘A’ game to the table today,” Hegarty said.

With the match in the bag, Emily Carbone dropped Jil Hastenrath, 6-4, 6-4, while Nanar Airapetian closed out the match with a win over Myrthe Molenveld, 6-5, 6-7, 10-8, in a super tiebreaker.

Arkansas will be back at home on March 13 and 15, hosting Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Singles1. #10 Aurelija Miseviciute (Ark) def. #11 Fani Chifchieva (AU), 6-4, 6-3.2. #97 Anouk Tigu (Ark) def. #35 Alex Haney (AU), 6-3, 6-3.3. Ela Kaluder (Ark) def. Whitney Chappell (AU), 6-2, 6-3.4. Nanar Airapetian (Ark) def. Myrthe Molenveld (AU), 6-4, 6-7, (10-8)5. Emily Carbone (Ark) def. Jil Hastenrath (AU), 6-4, 6-4.6. Daniela Vukadinovic (AU) def. Kate Lukomskaya (Ark), 6-3, 6-4.Order of Finish: (6,2,3,1*,5,4)

Doubles1. Alex Haney/Whiteny Chappell (AU) def. #18 Nanar Airapetian/Anouk Tigu (Ark), 8-4.2. Aurelija Miseviciute/Ela Kaluder (Ark) def. Fani Chifchieva/Myrthe Molenveld (AU), 8-3.3. Emily Carbone/Kate Lukomskaya (Ark) def. Dunja Djuranovic/Jil Hastenrath (AU), 8-3.Order of Finish: (1,3,2*)