Women’s Tennis Defeats No. 36 SMU, 4-1

DALLAS – The University of Arkansas women’s tennis team closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule with a road win over No. 36 SMU on Sunday. The Razorbacks improve to 7-3 this spring and have won their third straight match.

The Razorbacks claimed an early lead, winning the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. Laura Rijkers and Lenka Stara dropped their match on court two 6-3, but No. 46 duo Tatum Rice and Morgan Cross evened the score with a 6-3 win over their Mustangs opponents.

All eyes then turned to court three where sophomores Kelly Keller and Indianna Spink clinched the doubles point for the Razorbacks. The duo has won their third straight match with a 7-5 victory over Mustangs Huth and Petchey.

In singles, Arkansas got off to a hot start claiming the first set on five of the six courts. Sophomore Lenka Stara claimed the first singles victory for the Razorbacks, taking down Lana Mavor of SMU 6-2, 6-2 on court four. Stara has now won her tenth straight match of the spring and is 7-0 in the No. 4 position.

On court six, Laura Rijkers quickly followed to put the Razorbacks up 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Mustang Nicole Petchey. The Razorbacks were looking for one more win to clinch the win as courts three and two were going into a third set.

The Mustangs put one on the board with a win at court one where graduate student Taum Rice fell in a tough battle 6-7, 4-6 to Lexi Kerbele of SMU.

Sophomore Morgan Cross clinched the win for the Razorbacks, coming out victorious in straight-set tiebreakers 7-5, 7-5. Cross earns her third win of the spring season, improving to 3-1 at the No. 5 position.

Arkansas returns to the home courts on Saturday, March 5 at 1 p.m. CT to open up SEC play against Missouri.

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