Hogs battle but fall short to Oklahoma

Norman, Okla.— The No. 50 Arkansas Razorbacks fought hard but were unable to defeat the No. 44 Oklahoma Sooners. The Hogs fell to the Sooners 7-0 at the Gregg Wadley Tennis Center in Norman, Okla. on Friday.

“OU jumped on us and never let us in the match.” head coach Robert Cox.

Oklahoma pulled away with the lead early in doubles action. At the No. 2 doubles position, Matthew Hogan and Matt Walters fell to Blake Boswell and Andrei Daescu, 8-1. The Sooner’s momentum continued as the tandem of Lawrence Formentara and Ionut Beleleu clinched the win over Nikolas Zogaj and Mike Ward, 8-4. On the top court, Christopher Nott and Dmitry Lebedev regained rhythm and came back from behind to win 8-7(5) over Colton Paval and David Pultr.

Oklahoma held with a firm hand and never backed down. Pultr began the rally, defeating Gregoire Lehmann, 6-2, 6-4. To secure the win for Oklahoma No. 10 Daescu defeated No. 81 Nott in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. Oklahoma’s winning trend continued as Lebedev fell to Paval, 6-3, 6-3 and Formentera won 6-3, 7-6(3).

The match ended at the No. 3 position, Hogan and No. 59 Ionet Beleleu battled in dueling match. Hogan armored with determination, forced a tiebreak in the in the first set but eventually fell to Belle, 7-6(8-6), 7-5.

Arkansas will return to the road for a doubleheader against Oregon and Cal Poly Feb. 19-20, in Eugene, Ore. First serve against the Ducks is set for 7:30 p.m.on Friday. The Hogs will turnaround to take on Cal Poly Saturday, 2 p.m.

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