Hogs Fall to No. 32 Florida in SEC Tournament Second Round

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 44 Arkansas men’s tennis team (18-14) grabbed the doubles point before falling 4-2 to No. 32 Florida (14-10) in the second round of the SEC Tournament Thursday evening at Carolina Tennis Center.

In doubles play, the Gators gained the early advantage with a win on court three, as Edengren/Weintraub defeated Arthur Bellegy and Brendan Boland, 6-4. The Razorbacks responded with No. 24 Connor Smillie and Jakub Vrba securing a 6-4 victory against No. 12 Jefferson/Nirundorn at the top spot. The win for Smillie and Vrba marks their second top-20 victory over Jefferson/Nirundorn this season and sixth ranked win overall this spring. The doubles point came down to court two as Božo Barun and Benni Emesz clinched the point for the Hogs after a 7-5 victory against Ganesan/Jin. With the win, Arkansas collected the doubles point versus Florida for the second time this year.

The Gators earned their first point of the evening at the No. 1 position, as No. 47 Ganesan bested Barun in straight sets to tie the match. The Razorbacks reclaimed the lead following a 6-3, 6-2 victory from Vrba over No. 70 Jin on court two, marking his third ranked victory this season. Florida’s Jefferson evened the match again after taking down Bellegy at the No. 4 position, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Villard gave the Gators their first lead of the evening with a 6-4, 7-6 (6) win against Boland on court six. Florida clinched the match following a 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-1 victory from Nirundorn over Smillie at the No. 5 position. On court three, Emesz split the first two sets against Edengren and trailed 4-5 in the final set before his match went unfinished.

The Hogs await their NCAA Tournament draw, which will be revealed on Monday, April 28 at 4:30 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.