Palovic Earns Top-20 Win as No. 36 Arkansas Falls to No. 4 Texas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 36 Arkansas men’s tennis team (14-8, 3-5) dropped its third consecutive match after a 4-1 loss to No. 4 Texas (16-3, 7-0) Friday evening at Billingsley Tennis Center.

The Longhorns obtained the early advantage with a win on court one as No. 8 Brown/Legout defeated No. 48 Connor Smillie and Jakub Vrba, 6-2. The Razorbacks responded with a 6-4 victory from Brendan Boland and Marino Jakic over Bailly/Eriksson at the No. 3 position. The win for Boland/Jakic marks their fourth doubles victory together this spring. The doubles point came down to court two as Texas grabbed the 1-0 lead following a 7-6 (5) win from Braswell/Gorzny against Božo Barun and Benni Emesz.

The Longhorns carried their momentum into singles play, taking the first set on five courts. At the No. 6 position, Burnett secured a straight-set victory over Jean-Baptiste Badon while Barun narrowly fell in a second-set tiebreak, dropping the match 2-6, 6-7 (7) to No. 3 Legout in the top spot.

No. 80 Lukas Palovic earned the only point of the match for the Hogs after a 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 comeback win against No. 19 Gorzny on court two. The victory for Palovic marks his second top-20 win and third ranked victory overall as the sophomore has won his last five singles matches to improve to 13-4 overall this season. Texas clinched the match at the No. 5 position as Brown bested Arthur Bellegy in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.

On court four, Emesz fought back to force a third set versus Eriksson before his match went unfinished. Vrba split the first two sets and held a 2-1 lead in the final set against No. 53 Braswell as his match was abandoned.

Arkansas returns to Billingsley Tennis Center on Sunday, March 23 to face No. 28 Georgia at 1 p.m.

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