Miseviciute and Kaluder continue excellent play at NCAA Championships

TULSA, Okla. – Junior Aurelija Miseviciute claimed her 50th singles with of the season, while she and Ela Kaluder displayed Lady Razorback supremacy on Thursday at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships within the Michael D. Case Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.

Miseviciute, the No. 1 seed in singles, started the day off early by overhauling No. 43 Taylor Ormond of Baylor, 6-1, 7-5, to move into the quarterfinals of the tournament. Even after being down 4-1 in the second set, the First team All-SEC member bounced back to capture the win. Her victory on Thursday was her 82nd at the University of Arkansas good for 10th on the career singles wins’ list.

"When it was 4-1, I actually started thinking I’m going to let this set go. In my mind I had already lost the second set so I was going to a third set,” said Miseviciute. “That kind of helped me a little to relax and finish that.”

In Thursday’s match, one day after she dropped the first set in a three set win against No. 80 Jenni Heinser, Miseviciute rocketed out of the gate against Ormond.

"First of all, I started off from the beginning really well. It was hard yesterday because my first set was really slow. Today, I started from the first and I was into it a lot. I felt like I had a better concentration, a better focus,” Miseviciute said. “I am much happier with my match today than yesterday.”

Miseviciute will look to become only the second Lady’Back ever to advance to the fourth round of the singles championships against Miami’s (FL) Laura Vallverdu Friday at 11 a.m.

In doubles action on Thursday, Miseviciute and Kaluder dominated No. 36 Julia Koulbitskaya and Kate Kosminskaya of Pennsylvania, 6-4, 6-2, avenging a loss earlier in the season. The wins marks the duo’s 30th of the season good for third-most wins in a season by a doubles team.

“Ela [Kaluder] and I knew we did not play up to our potential in our loss to them in the fall,” Miseviciute said. “Our early energy and familiarity with these courts gave us an advantage in today’s match.”

The 29th-ranked doubles duo will look to move into second-place for most doubles wins in a season Friday against No. 2 Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe of Fresno State in the round of 16 at 5 p.m.

“To continue our strong play we need to keep playing aggressive like we did today,” said Kaluder. “If we can do that, everything else will come.”

For live stats of tomorrow’s matches click on the ‘Live Stats’ tab on LADYBACKS.COM