No. 24 MSU Women’s Tennis Wins At No. 46 Arkansas In 4-3 Thriller; Claims Fifth Straight

Sunday, March 25

Fayetteville, Ark.

1:00 PM

Mississippi State

Arkansas

MSU battled for a tough 4-3 triumph Sunday evening at No. 46 Arkansas.

Photo by: Trevor Birchett/MSU Athletics

No. 24 MSU Women’s Tennis Wins At No. 46 Arkansas In 4-3 Thriller; Claims Fifth Straight

March 25, 2018 | Women's Tennis

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – In match that featured four three-set affairs and two tiebreakers, the 24^th-ranked Mississippi State women's tennis team (14-5, 5-3 SEC) held off No. 46 Arkansas (5-11, 1-6 SEC) for a 4-3 triumph at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center Sunday afternoon. The match was moved indoors near the end of doubles due to rain.

The victory gave State its fifth-straight in SEC play for the first time in school history. State also evened the series with Arkansas at 14-14, now having won the last five meetings with the Razorbacks.

"We battled hard and won another nail biter today," head coach Daryl Greenan said. "Once again we were able to overcome adversity and a very strong opponent. Moving indoors is always a disadvantage for the road team. Moving indoors halfway through the doubles and still winning that point was the first key to today's win. Once again it took a complete team effort to get this win. Credit to both of our seniors, Madison and Khrystyna, for stepping up in key wins. Then there is Ana, the come-from-behind match-clinching wins she has given her team have been amazing! I am extremely proud of what these girls are doing this year and we are all excited to keep it up and go to battle again next weekend."

The Bulldogs came out strong in doubles as seniors Madison Harrison and Khrystyna Vozniak upended Arkansas' 40^th-ranked tandem of Ana Oparenovic and Tatum Rice 6-3 on court 1 for their third win in a row. Answering back on court 3, the Razorback tandem of Natsuho Arakawa and Agne Cepelyte held off MSU's pair of Sara Lizariturry and Anastasia Rentouli 6-4. Coming down to No. 2 for the doubles point, State's tandem of Magda Adaloglou and Janina Braun outlasted UA's Mia Jurasic and Giulia Pairone 7-6(2), giving MSU the early 1-0 lead.

Despite the early surge by the Bulldogs, the Razorbacks answered back in singles, splitting the opening sets and forcing four matches into a third set.

First off the courts, State's Vozniak claimed a wild back-and-forth battle over Arkansas' Martina Zerulo - 6-0, 0-6, 6-1 at No. 6 - extending the MSU lead to 2-0. Vozniak is now 10-2 in dual matches this spring.

The Razorbacks then answered with two straight singles victories as No. 76 Oparenovic ousted State's Braun 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2 and UA's Jurasic bested the Bulldog freshman Adaloglou 7-5, 6-2 on court 3 to even the team score at 2-all.

Following on court 1, the Bulldogs' Harrison upset UA's 55^th-ranked Pairone 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in a hard-fought triumph to put MSU back on top 3-2. Arkansas would respond again, this time as Cepelyte posted a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph over State's Lizariturry at No. 5.

Then, continuing an amazing string of circumstances in the past few weeks, MSU's Rentouli was in position for the fifth-straight match to decide State's fate at the No. 4 position, after having delivered in the previous four. On Sunday, the Bulldog junior trailed 5-2 in an opening set tiebreak to Arkansas' Arakawa before claiming five straight points to take the first set. After dropping the second frame by a narrow 6-4 decision, Rentouli was on court by herself for the match-deciding third set once again.

After Arakawa built a seemingly commanding 4-1 lead in the third, Rentouli reeled off five straight games for an incredible 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 comeback triumph to hand the Bulldogs the road victory. Last week's SEC Player of the Week, Rentouli has now won six-straight matches in singles action and is a team-leading 12-2 in dual match competition in 2018.


Next Up For MSU…

MSU continues its current four-match SEC road swing Friday, March 30, at No. 34 Texas A&M in a 5 p.m. CT matchup.

For more information on the Mississippi State women's tennis program, follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

No. 24 Mississippi State 4, No. 46 Arkansas 3
George M. Billingsley Tennis Center
Fayetteville, Ark.
March 25, 2018

Doubles
1. Madison Harrison/Khrystyna Vozniak (MSU) def. No. 40 Ana Oparenovic/Tatum Rice (UA) 6-3
2. Magda Adaloglou/Janina Braun (MSU) def. Mia Jurasic/Giulia Pairone (UA) 7-6(2)
3. Natsuho Arakawa/Agne Cepelyte (UA) def. Sara Lizariturry/Anastasia Rentouli (MSU) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles
1. Madison Harrison (MSU) def. No. 55 Giulia Pairone (UA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
2. No. 76 Ana Oparenovic (UA) def. Janina Braun (MSU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Mia Jurasic (UA) def. Magda Adaloglou (MSU) 7-5, 6-2
4. Anastasia Rentouli (MSU) def. Natsuho Arakawa (UA) 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4
5. Agne Cepelyte (UA) def. Sara Lizariturry (MSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
6. Khrystyna Vozniak (MSU) def. Martina Zerulo (UA) 6-0, 0-6, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 3, 2, 1, 5, 4