KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Arkansas freshman Tatum Rice, of Lakeside, and her partner, junior Ana Oparenovic, earned their highest-ranked win of the season Saturday, but the Razorbacks were ousted from the Southeastern Conference tournament, 4-2, at Dr. Robert L. Barksdale Tennis Stadium.
No. 9 Florida (18-7, 11-2) is the the No. 2 seed in the tournament. No. 11 seed Arkansas (10-16, 3-10) previously eliminated No. 14 seed Missouri (13-17, 0-13), fifth-seeded Auburn (20-10, 8-5) and third-seeded South Carolina (19-6, 11-2), ranked No. 7 in the country.
"For our fourth intense match in four days at this elite level, it was incredible to see our team compete better than we have all season long," Razorbacks head coach Michael Hegarty said. "This was a championship level match and we give great credit to Florida, who we have tremendous respect for."
The Razorbacks' No. 40 ranked pair of Rice and Oparenovic won in the top spot of doubles play in a 6-4 decision over the Gators' No. 13 ranked tandem of Anna Danilina and Victoria Emma. The Gators still got on the board first Saturday with victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions before taking three of the first five singles matchups. No. 50 Giulia Pairone led 1-0 in the third set against Florida's No. 14 Danilina after winning a second-set tiebreaker.
Southeastern Oklahoma State wins
GAC men's tennis tournament
BENTONVILLE -- Southeastern Oklahoma State cruised in its 2018 Great American Conference Men's Tennis Championships semifinal contest on Friday and defeated Harding, 5-3, in the final on Saturday.
The men's and women's tournaments began on Thursday at Memorial Park in Bentonville.
The Savage Storm (11-7, 3-0) swept Ouachita (2-15, 0-3) in the semifinals.
The Bisons (14-7, 2-1) won their first GAC Championship match in seven tries as they eliminated Oklahoma Baptist (7-8, 1-2), the reigning tournament champion, 5-3, in the other semifinal on Friday.
Women
Southeastern (11-10, 5-1) and Oklahoma Baptist (13-4, 6-0) advanced to Saturday's women's final with semifinal victories on Friday. It is the fifth time in the seven years of the GAC that the top two seeds made the final.
The Savage Storm successfully began their bid for a third consecutive conference title by defeating Arkansas Tech (12-6, 4-2), 5-1. After trailing in all three doubles matches, Southeastern scored wins at the No. 3 and No.1 spots to grab a 2-1 lead.
Sophomore Kami Ward, of Lake Hamilton, and partner Annabel Rowlands tallied the lone win for the Golden Suns.
Oklahoma Baptist advanced to the final with a 5-3 win Friday against Harding.
During the regular season, Oklahoma Baptist recorded a 7-2 victory against Southeastern
Sports on 04/22/2018