Men’s Tennis Downed by LSU Tigers

No. 37 Arkansas men’s tennis had a tough SEC road test on Friday against the No. 7 LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge and fell 6-1.

The Razorbacks (14-8, 2-6) fell behind in doubles early as No. 64 Connor Smillie and Jakub Vrba were defeated by No. 42 Matias Ponce de Leon and Erik Arutiunian 6-1. Brendan Boland and Dmitry Kopilevich played closely with Enzo Kohlmann and Rudy Ceccon but ultimately lost 6-3. No. 44 Eric Padgham and Ben Weintraub led 5-4 before doubles concluded.

In singles, No. 24 Arutiunian defeated No. 18 Vrba 6-4, 6-0 to put LSU up 2-0. Andrej Loncarevic took down Lukas Palovic 6-3, 6-2 on court two, and the Tigers (20-3, 6-2) closed in on clinching the match. The third was closer, but Alessio Vasquez defeated Ben Weintraub 6-3, 7-5.

LSU secured its four points for the victory, but play continued after that. Sasa Markovic won over Gabriel Elicha Navas by a matching 6-3, 5-7 score. On court five, Ponce de Leon defeated Kopilevich 6-2, 6-2.

Brendan Boland closed the match with Arkansas’ lone singles win on the day, 4-6, 6-3, 10-7.

The Hogs returns to action on Sunday afternoon at the Billingsley Tennis Center when No. 14 Auburn visits for a noon match.

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