Hogs bounce back against No. 27 TCU

Fort Worth, Texas — After barely being 24 hours removed from their tough loss to Rice the day before, the No. 18 Razorback women’s tennis team defeated No. 27-ranked TCU, 5-2, at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth on Sunday. The Hogs rode to victory over their former Southwest Conference rivals on the backs of shutout doubles play and solid singles play at the bottom of their lineup. This match was a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament round of 32 match.

“This was a total team effort today,” said head coach Michael Hegarty. “After such a close loss yesterday, we needed a spark today and I thought we played our best doubles of the season today.”

The Razorbacks (7-2) started the day firing on all cylinders during the doubles matches as they won all three matches to win the doubles point and take the early 1-0 lead into singles play. Arkansas was able to get the doubles clincher at the No. 3 spot where the team of sophomore Stephanie Roy and freshman Valentina Starkova won their sixth doubles match of the spring season against Idunn Hertzberg and Gaby Mastromarino of TCU, 9-7.

Moving on to singles play, the Hogs got another stellar performance from Roy, who scored the first singles point of the day, gaining a win over Hertzberg in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. The team’s lead was extended even further at the No. 5 spot when freshman Kelsey Sundaram scored the win over Mastromarino, also in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.

The Horned Frogs tried to show some life later in the match as they got the win at the No. 2 spot, cutting the lead to 3-1. However, the Hogs were able to close it out at the No. 6 spot when freshman Claudine Paulson defeated Maria Babanova, 6-2, 6-0, giving the Hogs their seventh win of the season.

Arkansas finally gets to return home for their first match in Fayetteville in nearly three weeks when they take on Memphis and Oral Roberts in a doubleheader scheduled for Friday, February 26 at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center. The busy weekend will continue that Sunday, when they take on the Oklahoma Sooners. First serve for Friday’s match is scheduled for noon with the second match to follow at 4 p.m. Live stats will be available for all three matches and complete results posted online at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.Arkansas vs. TCUComplete ResultsNo. 18 Arkansas 5No. 27 TCU 2Doubles ResultsOrder of Finish: 2, 3*, 1No. 1 Anouk Tigu/Claudine Paulson (ARK) def. #22 Nina Munch-Soegaard/Kayla Duncan (TCU) 8-6No. 2 Kate Lukomskaya/Kelsey Sundaram (ARK) def. Maria Babanova/Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) 8-6No. 3 Stephanie Roy/Valentina Starkova (ARK) def. Idunn Hertzberg/Gaby Mastromarino (TCU) 9-7Singles Results Order of Finish: 4, 5, 2, 6*, 3, 1No. 1 #62 Anouk Tigu (ARK) def. Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) 6-7, 6-2, 7-6No. 2 #78 Kayla Duncan (TCU) def. Kate Lukomskaya (ARK) 6-4, 6-4No. 3 #56 Katariina Tuohimaa (TCU) def. Emily Carbone (ARK) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0No. 4 Stephanie Roy (ARK) def. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) 6-1, 6-0No. 5 Kelsey Sundaram (ARK) def. Gaby Mastromarino (TCU) 6-3, 6-4No. 6 Claudine Paulson (ARK) def. Maria Babanova (TCU) 6-2, 6-0