Arkansas Falls In SEC Home Opener
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Playing under the lights for the first time on the newly renovated outdoor courts at the Billingsley Tennis Center, the Arkansas men’s tennis team won the first three singles matches for a 3-1 lead in the match, before falling to South Carolina 4-3 in its SEC home opener on Thursday night.
“Excellent effort again by the team,” head coach Andy Jackson said. “Very bitter result as we had it and didn’t close. A lot of the reason for it was the excellent play and heart by South Carolina. It will be a big challenge to not get down but come again on Saturday with the same effort and try to play better.”
South Carolina (13-4, 2-2 SEC) clinched the doubles point with wins at No. 1 doubles and No. 3 doubles, while Adam Sanjurjo and Oscar Mesquida battled in a tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles when the point was clinched and play was suspended in doubles.
Arkansas (8-7, 2-2 SEC) regained some momentum early in singles play, as the Razorbacks won the first set in five of the six matches, Mike Redlicki, the No. 6 player in the nation, was the first off the court with a 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 51 Gabriel Friedrich, to even the match at 1-1.
Johan den Toom won a three-setter, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, at No. 5 singles, and then Mesquida finished off a 7-5, 6-3 win a No. 4 singles, and Arkansas led South Carolina 3-1 with three singles matches remaining.
The momentum turned back in favor of South Carolina, as Paul Jubb won in three sets at No. 6 singles, Andrew Schafer forced a third set at No. 3 singles, and Harrison O’Keefe won a second-set tiebreaker to force a third set at No. 2 singles.
Schafer completed his comeback, winning 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 at No. 3 singles, to tie the match at 3-all, as Jose Salazar, the No. 24 player in the nation, and O’Keefe started play in the third set at No. 2 singles.
After splitting the first two sets in tiebreakers, O’Keefe won an early break to lead 3-1, and then Salazar broke right back to 3-2 in the third set, before O’Keefe won the next three games, including two breaks, for the 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 6-2 win at No. 2 singles to clinch the 4-3 win for South Carolina.
Notable
- Arkansas played under the lights for the first time on the newly renovated outdoor courts at the Billingsley Tennis Center.
- Mike Redlicki defeated his 14th ranked opponent of the season, improving to 23-7 overall and 14-4 against ranked opponents in singles play. That includes a 6-4 overall record and 4-2 record against ranked opponents this spring.
- Johan den Toom improved to 16-10 in singles play this season, including a 9-4 record this spring. Oscar Mesquida won in his first SEC home singles match and improved to 8-5 in singles play this season.
- Arkansas has played three straight matches decided by one point, defeating Tennessee 4-3 and falling to No. 11 Georgia 4-3 and South Carolina 4-3. Arkansas is 2-3 in matches decided by one point this season.
Up Next
Arkansas continues its home stand with three more matches on Saturday. Arkansas will host No. 15 Florida to begin play at 6 p.m. and will then play a doubleheader against Nebraska-Omaha following the conclusion of that match. Arkansas will also host No. 16 Mississippi State on March 23 during the seven-match home stand.
For more information on Razorback men’s tennis, please follow @RazorbackMTEN on Twitter.
