Razorbacks Set to Open Fall Season in Cary, Manhattan

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas women’s tennis team will split up this weekend as the squad will compete in two events to open the fall season. Four Razorbacks will travel to Manhattan, Kan., for the K-State Invitational from Friday, Sept. 20 to Sunday, Sept. 22 while four Hogs head to Cary, N.C., for the ITA All-American Championships from Saturday, Sept. 21 to Sunday, Sept. 29.

At the K-State Invitational, the Hogs will compete against student-athletes from four schools including host Kansas State, Iowa State, South Florida and Wichita State. The event begins Friday morning at 9 a.m. CT with two rounds of doubles matches before one round of singles matches starting at 12 p.m. CT.

Jimena Gomez Alonso, Morgan McCarthy, Lilitha Ndungane and Katerina Pavlechova will represent Arkansas during the weekend with Ndungane and Pavlechova teaming up to kick things off in doubles play against Niroshan/Senli (USF) Friday morning. The lineups for the second round of doubles matches have yet to be released.

Pavlechova matches up against Kelly Loana Vargas Gonzalez of USF in her first match on Friday. Pavlechova comes to Fayetteville from Slovakia with a career-high ITF singles ranking of No. 1167 in addition a career-high ITF Juniors ranking of No. 271. In ITF Juniors events, Pavlechova claimed two singles titles and four doubles titles with the most recent coming at the J60 Alicante with Ema Kovacevic in April 2023.

Jimena Gomez Alonso is set to face Karine Kulidjian also from USF on the opening day of the K-State Invitational. Jimena Gomez Alonso will make her Arkansas debut and arrives to the Hill with a career-high WTA doubles ranking of No. 1195 along with a career-high ITF singles ranking of No. 1307.

Ndungane will compete against Wichita State’s Clara Whitaker in her first singles match of the event. Ndungane comes to Fayetteville from South Africa with a career-high ITF Juniors ranking of No. 877. In June, Ndungane earned a doubles victory at the Billie Jean King Cup against Namibia with partner Heike Janse Van Vuuren.

McCarthy will face Suzanie Pretorius of Iowa State in her first singles match on Friday. McCarthy collected overall records of 0-5 in singles and 2-1 in doubles a season ago and picked up two doubles victories with Katie Ferguson over Lin/Sadler (Washington/Kansas) and Patel/Skelton (SMU) at the SMU Fall Invite last fall.

For information regarding the K-State Invitational, follow the Razorbacks on social media for results after each day of matches.

Olga Bienzobas, Carolina Gomez Alonso, Anet Koskel and Grace O’Donnell are set to kick off their fall seasons at the ITA All-American Championships. Bienzobas will open play in the prequalifying singles and doubles draws on Saturday, Sep. 21 while Koskel and O’Donnell are slated to begin their run on Monday, Sep. 23 in the qualifying doubles draw.

Carolina Gomez Alonso will compete with Bienzobas in the prequalifying doubles draw before making her singles debut in Cary on Wednesday, Sep. 25 in the opening round of the main draw. The junior is coming off another stellar season in which she was named to the All-SEC First Team and is currently ranked No. 18 in the preseason ITA singles rankings, the highest ranking of her collegiate career.

Bienzobas is making her Arkansas debut at the ITA All-American Championships after transferring from Louisiana Tech this summer. Bienzobas registered a 19-3 dual singles record a season ago, playing each match on court one for the Bulldogs. Bienzobas received First Team All-Conference USA honors in singles and was named the 2024 Louisiana Player of the Year.

Koskel and O’Donnell return to Fayetteville after strong performances during the 2023-24 season. Koskel amassed a 9-7 dual doubles record, including a 7-7 mark with Morgan Cross at the No. 1 position. The duo concluded the year with two ranked victories and were ranked No. 82 in the final ITA doubles rankings. O’Donnell posted a 9-11 dual doubles record on court two with Lenka Stara as the tandem are tied for fifth in program history with 35 career doubles wins. O’Donnell and Stara recorded their lone ranked win last season during the ITA All-American Championships.

The ITA All-American Championships are the first of four qualifiers for the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships, which will be held from Nov. 19-24 in Waco, Texas. At the ITA All-American Championships, 10 singles players (eight main draw quarterfinalists & two feed-in consolation finalists) and four doubles teams (four main draw semifinalists) will earn an automatic berth to Waco later this fall.

For all information regarding the ITA All-American Championships, visit the tournament homepage to find draws, schedule of play and results. Prequalifying and qualifying round matches will be streamed on PlaySight while Cracked Racquets is set to provide a crosscourt cast of main draw action starting on Wednesday. Fans can watch the main draw streams on the ITA YouTube page.