FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas’ women’s tennis team completed the final day of play at the Country Club of Little Rock Collegiate Invitational on Sunday in Little Rock, Ark. The Razorbacks finished the tournament by seeing sophomore Oleksandra Shkorupeieva take home runner-up honors in her singles flight, junior Yang Pang win the consolation championship in her singles flight, and Pang and Shkorupeieva finish runner-up in the doubles flight.
“We scheduled this tournament extremely early in order to get a fast start on our developmental process and it certainly provided that,” head coach Michael Hegarty said. “We saw great things in doubles all three days and clearly some great play at the top of the singles lineup.”
Shkorupeieva tore through her first two matches of the tournament to advance to the final, but came up short in the last round, falling 6-1, 6-3 to Belen Ludvena of Kansas.
Behind a close win in a tiebreaker during Saturday’s semifinal, the doubles tandem of Shkorupeieva and Pang moved on to Sunday’s final. The No. 59-ranked doubles team according to the ITA preseason poll lost in the final by one break, losing 8-6 to Ole Miss’ Arianne Hartono and Mai El Kamash.
Pang claimed the championship of the singles flight “A” consolation bracket as she tallied a singles win on Sunday, taking down Kathryn Guttormsen of Oklahoma State, 6-0, 6-4. She won two straight singles matches after dropping her first-round match on Friday.
Juniors Flavia Araujo and Nicole Breaux teamed to win their second doubles match of the tournament, defeating Ole Miss’ Marja Milutinovic and Allie Robbins, 8-5.
Overall for the three-day tournament, Arkansas finished with four singles wins and four doubles wins.
The Razorbacks continue their fall schedule next weekend as they head to Norman, Okla., to compete in the Oklahoma Sooner Invitational Sept. 19-21.
“We now turn our attention to another stacked field in Norman next weekend where we anticipate using perhaps our entire roster,” Hegarty said.
RESULTS:
Singles:
Belen Ludvena (Kansas) def. Oleksandra Shkorupeieva (UA) 6-1, 6-3
Yang Pang (UA) def. Kathryn Guttormsen (Okla. St) 6-0, 6-4
Marja Milutinovic (Ole Miss) def. Nicole Breaux (UA) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles:
Arianne Hartono/Mai El Kamash (Ole Miss) def. Shkorupeieva/Pang (UA) 8-6
Araujo/Breaux (UA) def. Marja Milutinovic/Allie Robbins (Ole Miss) 8-5
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