Women's tennis advance to second round on Sunday

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Nanar Airapetian clinched two points in a shutout over 4th-seeded Oral Roberts, 4-0, as the No. 1 seed University of Arkansas Razorbacks advanced into the second round of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament on Saturday.The 14th-ranked Razorbacks move into Sunday’s 2 p.m. match at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center with No. 28 Texas Christian University. The winner will advance to the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships, which feature the nation’s top 16 teams, on May 15th in College Station, Texas.“TCU looked awfully good today and we’ll have a great challenge ahead of us tomorrow,” said Arkansas head coach Michael Hegarty.The Hogs (14-7) proved their dominance early in the match after claiming the doubles point. Seniors and 45th-ranked Aurelija Miseviciute and Ela Kaluder rocketed by ORU’s Ana Costa and Tayler Pipper, 8-2. Number 20 Nanar Airapetian and Anouk Tigu blanked Hayden Rush and Rafaela Souza, 8-0, giving Arkansas a 1-0 lead.One quick glace around the courts in the opening sets illustrated that the Razorbacks had a tight grasp on the match.Ranked second nationally, Miseviciute did not relinquish a game against Rush on Court 1, 6-0, 6-0, extending the Hogs’ lead to 2-0. Freshman Emily Carbone followed the lead of her senior teammate, blanking Costa, 6-0, 6-0, setting up the clincher for Airapetian.“The best part of our win today was how we sharp we were at every position,” Hegarty said. Live stats will be available for Sunday’s match against TCU on ARKANSASRAZORBACKS.COM.#14 Arkansas- 4Oral Roberts- 0Singles1. #2 Aurelija Miseviciute (Ark) def. Hayden Rush (ORU), 6-0, 6-02. #77 Anouk Tigu (Ark) led Rafaela Souza (ORU), 6-1, 1-0.3. Ela Kaluder (Ark) led. Tayler Pippen (ORU), 6-1, 2-0.4. Emily Carbone (Ark) def. Ana Costa (ORU), 6-0, 6-0.5. Nanar Airapetian (Ark) def. Corrine Langston (ORU), 6-0, 6-16. Kate Lukomskaya (Ark) led. Ekaterina Kondrashova, 6-2, 3-0.Order of Finish: (1,4,5*)Doubles1. #20 Nanar Airapetian/Anouk Tigu (Ark) def. Hayden Rush/Rafaela Souza (ORU), 8-2.2. #45 Aurelija Miseviciute/Ela Kaluder (Ark) def. Ana Costa/Tayler Pippen (ORU), 8-0.3. Emily Carbone/Kate Lukomskaya (Ark) led. Corrine Langston/Ekaterina Kondrashova (ORU), 5-3.Order of Finish: (2,1*)