No. 48 Arkansas Continues SEC Play At No. 28 Alabama, No. 40 Georgia

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 48 Arkansas men’s tennis team (14-6, 1-3) hits the road to continue SEC play against No. 28 Alabama (13-8, 2-3) on Friday, March 22, at 4 p.m. and No. 40 Georgia (7-9, 1-4) on Sunday, March 24, at noon CT.

The Razorbacks split their doubleheader last Thursday versus No. 53 Ole Miss and Mississippi Valley State. In the first match, the Hogs took the doubles point against the Rebels as No. 29 Božo Barun/Jared Horwood and Melvin Manuel/Alan Sau Franco secured victories to take the early 1-0 advantage. The win for Barun/Horwood marked their second consecutive ranked victory this season as the duo earned their spot in the latest ITA doubles rankings.

Arkansas rebounded in the second match by not dropping a game on all five singles courts en route to a 4-0 win over Mississippi Valley State. Gerard Planelles Ripoll grabbed a victory in each match last week and now has eight singles victories this spring.

The No. 28 Crimson Tide have started the year 13-8 and are 2-3 in SEC play, falling to No. 16 South Carolina before defeating No. 25 Florida and Alabama A&M last weekend at home. Alabama is led by juniors No. 42 Filip Planinsek and No. 84 Enzo Aguiard, who have primarily competed at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions this season, respectively. Freshman Andrii Zimnokh leads the Crimson Tide with 15 singles wins this spring while playing on courts two, three, four, and five. Planinsek and Zimnokh have collected nine doubles victories together and are ranked No. 69 in the ITA doubles rankings.

The No. 40 Bulldogs are off to a 7-9 start this year and are 1-4 in SEC play after losses to No. 9 Texas and No. 12 Texas A&M last week. Georgia will play at No. 29 LSU before its match against the Razorbacks on Sunday. The singles lineup for the Bulldogs is headlined by juniors No. 61 Thomas Paulsell in the top spot and No. 58 Ryan Colby on court two. The Georgia lineup also features junior No. 81 Miguel Perez Peña and freshman Cyrus Mahjoob, who leads the team with eight singles wins this dual season. The duos of Freddy Blaydes/Niels Ratiu and Colby/Paulsell each have a team-leading four doubles victories this spring.

Live coverage of both matches will be provided by Cracked Racquets as part of the SEC CrossCourt whip-around broadcast streamed on SEC Network+. Live stats & video links for both matches are available on the men’s tennis schedule page.

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