Tigu to graduate and play on Saturday

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Even as the Razorback women’s tennis team prepares to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament this weekend, senior Anouk Tigu will also be preparing to graduate from the Walton College of Business with a degree in marketing.

Tigu, who just a couple weeks ago was named to her third straight All-SEC team, will graduate with an amazing 3.96 GPA and will be able to participate in graduation ceremonies on Saturday morning in Barnhill Arena before going just across the street to play in the Razorbacks first round NCAA Tournament matchup with Sacramento State at 1 p.m.

“It’s very exciting to graduate and play in the NCAA Tournament on the same day,” said Arkansas head coach Michael Hegarty. “I know Anouk is looking forward to it and looking forward to her parents being her also. We had a similar situation two years ago with three seniors and I think she took some things from that experience and will use that to her advantage.”

Tigu, as the Hogs top player, has had a stellar senior season and racked up a 24-9 record in singles and a 26-9 record in doubles with teammate Claudine Paulson. In singles, Tigu is currently ranked No. 33 in the nation and has never dropped below the top-35 all season long. In doubles, Tigu and Paulson have ridden a late season surge that saw them win their last six matches heading into this weekend. With that surge, the doubles tandem is now ranked No. 14 in the country by ITA.

“It is exciting that we are hosting and I get to graduate and I’m excited to play,” said Tigu. “My parents are coming and I’m glad they will be here. They have seen me play a lot of matches, but they haven’t been here since my freshman year. I’m a hard worker and a good planner, and I want to be good at everything. It takes a lot of effort. I like school and I like tennis, and if you work hard, you can succeed in a lot of areas.

The 21st-ranked Razorback women’s tennis team will begin their NCAA Tournament run this Saturday when they take on Sacramento State in first round action at the Billingsley Tennis Center at 1 p.m. That morning, Clemson will face Wichita State at 10 a.m. The winners of the two matches will play each other at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Again, all matches will be played at the Billingsley Tennis Center. The winner of the regional will move on to the Sweet 16 which will be played on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto, Calif.

For complete coverage of this weekend’s matches as well as live stats for all three matches, check out the tournament central page on ArkansasRazorbacks.com.