TENNIS UA splits with Saint Louis, Kentucky
The No. 53 University of Arkansas men’s tennis team split a doubleheader Sunday afternoon, taking a match from Saint Louis while falling to No. 4 Georgia in Fayetteville.
Arkansas (13-14) came out strong against the fourth-ranked Bulldogs taking the doubles point. Hall Fess and Santiago Munoz collected the first victory of the day with an easy 8-2 victory over Eric Diaz and Marco Nunez. Georgia responded with an 8-5 victory over No. 35 Manfred Jeske and Mike Nott from the No. 41 Nathan Pasha and Garrett Brasseaux. The senior duo of Mike Ward and Gregoire Lehmann clinched the doubles point for the Razorbacks and gave Arkansas the 1-0 lead.
Georgia won on courts two, four, five and six in singles to clinch the match. Lehmann and Nott’s matches were suspended. Lehmann was in a close match with the No. 11 singles player in the country tied at 4 in the second set. Nott was in his third set after winning the first and dropping the second.
The Razorbacks continued solid doubles play in the second match of the day against Saint Louis. Fess and Munoz won 8-4 while Christian Lee and Pete Thomason clinched the doubles point for the Hogs winning 8-4.
Jovan Parlic, Mike Ward, Fess, Lee, Thomason and Austin Robles all collected two-set victories for the Hogs to give Arkansas the sweep over St. Louis.
Arkansas will travel to Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday to play a doubleheader with Nebraska-Omaha.
Arkansas Tech tops Ouachita
Bohdana Sardak was a straight-set winner over Ouachita Baptist’s Valeriya Monsvetova at No.1 singles, while teaming with Laura Sanchez to pick up an 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles over Monsvetova and Kourtney Chumbley as the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns (9-4, 7-0 Great American Conference) topped Ouachita Baptist (1-12, 1-4 GAC) on Sunday at the Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex.
Maria Aleman took a 6-2, 6-0 decision over Kristen Bodine at No. 3 singles, while Allison Grahl won at No. 5 singles, picking up a 6-0, 6-2 win over Samantha Street. Nina Greenway turned in a 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 6 singles over McKenzie Cranford, while Laura Sanchez won a hard-fought, 7-6 (2), 6-3 decision over Lilia Sokolova at No. 4 singles.
Chumbley won the sole point for OBU at No. 2 singles, topping Aida Castany 6-2, 7-5.
Tech swept the doubles points, adding an 8-2 win by Aleman and Camila Roca at No. 2 doubles and an 8-0 win by Greenway and Grahl at No. 3 doubles.
ASU falls in Tennessee
The Arkansas State women’s tennis team dropped its second match in a row Sunday as the Red Wolves fell in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to to Sun Belt Conference opponent Middle Tennessee State 6-1.
The Red Wolves (5-8, 0-5 Sun Belt) got their one point in singles by Tamara Slijepcevic who defeated Irina Constantinide 6-3, 6-1.
TRACK UA’s Alcide sets school mark
Senior Makeba Alcide leads the heptathlon with a four-event score of 3,728 points after the first day of the John McDonell Combined Events.
Of Sunday’s four events, Alcide won three of them including a school-record performance in the high jump. With Sunday’s score, she is nearly 300 points ahead of personal-best pace. Heading into today’s conclusion, Alcide leads Tanya Friesen of Wichita State by 285 points.
Alcide took the overall lead with her school-record performance in the high jump, the second event of the day. The Razorback senior had a final clearance of 6-2, breaking the 10-year-old school mark of 6-1 1/4 set by Jessica Johnson in 2003. Her finish Sunday was worth 1,080 points to her overall total. Alcide now owns the Arkansas indoor and outdoor school records in the high jump. The clearance is also tied for the top mark in the SEC and No. 2 effort in the NCAA this season.
The Castries, St. Lucia, native extended her lead with a personal best in the shot put. Alcide closed out the day with a win at 200 meters, crossing the finish line in a time of 24.61. That time is the second fastest of her career in all conditions. Her time also added 923 points to her overall total. Her personal-best time of 24.38 came last weekend at the Texas Relays. Competition at the John McDonnell Combined Events is the second heptathlon in as many weekends for Alcide.
Sports, Pages 17 on 04/08/2013