FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Wichita State women's tennis team (31st in the Oracle/ITA Division I Rankings) dropped a close match at No. 42 Arkansas on Monday afternoon, by a score of 4-3.
WSU (10-3) saw its six-match winning streak come to an end and dropped to 3-3 against nationally-ranked competition.
Arkansas (6-4) snatched away the doubles point with a furious rally on court one. After trailing 5-2, the Razorbacks stormed back to win in a tiebreaker to swing the best-of-three in its favor and claim an early 1-0 lead.
"We played our hearts out," WSU head coach
Colin Foster said. "We had a match point to take the doubles and ultimately that was the difference. Julia and Gaby have done outstandingly in doubles and came up just a point short today.
WSU responded well with
Giulia Guidetti and
Abby Stevens each winning matches in straight-sets on courts four and five to claim a 2-1 lead.
Arkansas swept matches at Nos. 2 and 3 singles to pull back in front 3-2.
More comeback magic from the hosts clinched the match.
Luca Pump started fast on court six with a 6-2 first set, but dropped the next two against Arkansas' Agne Cepelyte, 6-2 and 6-4, to officially wrap up the dual win for the Razorbacks.
Play continued on court one, where
Gabriela Porubin (ITA No. 72) closed out Shannon Hudson, 7-5, 6-3 to improve to 16-8 on the year.
"Abby, Giulia, and Gaby did well to keep on the accelerator and get wins," Foster said. "Luca deserved a chance in the lineup and played very well. She pushed herself to the finish and created chances to win. Her opponent came up with some big shots at big moments."
WSU returns to action this weekend in Lawrence, Kan. They'll face No. 54 Kansas on Friday (2:00 p.m. CT), then play a neutral court match with No. 69 New Mexico (1:00 p.m CT) on Saturday.
"We're about halfway through the season and have a lot of positives to build on," Foster added. "Next weekend will be another challenging one as Kansas is much improved and New Mexico is a strong nationally ranked team as well"
The Shockers return home the following week to face No. 72 SMU (concluding a stretch of five-straight matches against teams that are currently ranked) and UMKC on Thursday, March 3 at 12:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. respectively.
#42 Arkansas 4, #31 Wichita State 3 Feb 22, 2016 | Fayetteville, Ark./Dills Indoor Courts Singles competition 1. #72
Gabriela Porubin (WSU) def. Shannon Hudson (ARK) 7-5, 6-3
2. Ana Oparenovic (ARK) def.
Rebecca Pedrazzi (WSU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Yuliya Lysa (ARK) def. Aleksandra Trifunovi (WSU) 7-5, 6-2
4.
Giulia Guidetti (WSU) def. Makenzie Craft (ARK) 6-3, 6-3
5.
Abby Stevens (WSU) def. Mia Jurasic (ARK) 6-4, 6-2
6. Agne Cepelyte (ARK) def.
Luca Pump (WSU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
Doubles competition 1. Craft/Araujo (ARK) def. Porubin/Schiller (WSU) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Oparenovic/Jurasic (ARK) def. Pedrazzi/Trifunovic (WSU) 6-2
3. Guidetti/Pump (WSU) def. Hudson/Cepelyte (ARK) 6-4
Match Notes:
Wichita State 10-3; National ranking #31
Arkansas 6-4; National ranking #42
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,5,2,3,6,1)
