Tennis Fact Sheet #10

Lady’Back tennis will take their five-match win streak to No. 4 Florida on Friday, and No. 34 South Carolina on Sunday. The Gators are currently 6-0 in Southeastern Conference play and 10-1 overall. South Carolina supports a 10-4 overall record while being tied for fourth in the SEC East with a 3-3 conference mark.

The Lady’Backs captured their fourth and fifth consecutive wins on Friday and Sunday, all matches coming against SEC opponents during the streak. Arkansas dropped No. 20 Tennessee, 6-1 on Friday, before upsetting Georgia, 4-3, in front of an excited crowd at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center.

Number 1 ranked Aurelija Miseviciute is currently on a five-match tear in conference play. The junior from Klaipeda, Lithuania now has 41 singles victories for the year, putting her one win away from second-most in a season for a Lady’Back. Her next victory will tie her with Trisha Shaw’s 1981 season, and will put her three away from Lori Zacharias’ 44 also in 1981.

Arkansas, 4-3, win against No. 6 Georgia on Sunday gave the Lady’Backs their 12th win of the season, the most wins in a season since 1999 when Arkansas had 15. The win also pushed head coach Michael Hegarty’s career record at Arkansas back to .500 at 42-42.

With clean sweeps in doubles over No. 20 Tennessee and No. 6 Georgia the Lady’Backs earned their eighth and ninth consecutive doubles points. Arkansas is currently 36-11 overall in doubles on the season, and have earned a sweep in three-consecutive SEC matches. See Stats on PAGE 4.

After leading the Lady’Backs to only the program’s second ever win againt Georgia, here is what Arkansas head coach Michael Hegarty had to say:

"This was a really big win for us for a lot of reasons. Obviously it was a huge win for us and was another SEC victory, but to consistently see improvement in mid-season is just outstanding."

Thanks to upsets against Tennessee and Georgia over the weekend, Arkansas now finds themselves sitting atop the SEC Western Division with a two-match cushion over Auburn and LSU in second-place. The showdown against Florida on Friday could determine the out-right SEC leader if Arkansas earns a victory. Right now Florida is undefeated in the SEC and the Lady’Backs are 0-19 against the Gators in program history.