Zerulo Earns Singles Champion Title in Norman

FAYETTEVILLE – It was another successful road trip for the University of Arkansas women’s tennis team this weekend, as the Razorbacks traveled to Norman, Oklahoma for a two-day tournament hosted by the Sooners. Senior Martina Zerulo was undefeated in singles play on both days, earning the title of singles champion for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas started the two-day tournament on Saturday, kicking off the weekend with a doubles win for freshmen-duo Indianna Spink and Morgan Cross. The pair defeated Lisa Marie Rioux and Ayumi Miyamoto of Oklahoma State (6-1).

During singles competition, it was Zerulo and graduate Jackie Carr that came out on top. Carr won her match against Oklahoma State’s Daniella Medvedeva, 6-4, 6-1 and Zerulo battled her opponent from OSU, Alana Wolfberg to the end and rose victorious in the end by a score of 0-6, 6-4, 1-0 [7].

Day two in Norman yielded lots of victories for Arkansas, including six wins in nine of the Razorbacks singles matches.

Again, Zerulo and Carr each took home a win for the Hogs, beating Nell Miller from Texas Tech (7-5, 6-3) and Saki Oyama from North Texas (6-1, 6-3) respectively.

Other Hogs who scored wins on Sunday included Cross, Tatum Rice, Presley Southerland and Lauren Alter.

The two freshmen, Cross and Southerland both defeated opponents from North Texas. Cross claimed a win over UNT freshman Matilde Magrini (6-3, 6-3) and Southerland was victorious over Mean Green sophomore, Louisa Junghanns (6-2, 6-2).

For the final two singles wins of the weekend, Rice defeated Nidhi Surapaneni of UNT (6-3, 7-5) and Alter took down Lucie Devier of North Texas, battling out to the finish, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 [9].

Arkansas made some changes to their doubles lineup on Sunday, and the new duos were victorious in three of their four matches:

• Morgan Cross and Jackie Carr defeated Saki Oyama and Sophia Hummel of UNT, 6-2
• Kelly Keller and Claire Slaughter defeated Matilde Magrini and Lucie Devier of UNT, 6-4
• Indianna Spink and Lauren Alter defeated Nidhi Surapaneni and Louisa Junghanns of UNT, 7-5
• Nell Miller and Kailey Evans of Texas Tech defeated Tatum Rice and Martina Zerulo  6-3

The Hogs have a week of rest before they prepare to host the ITA Central Regional Championships, here in Fayetteville, starting on Thursday, Oct.22.