Men’s Tennis rallies to top Kentucky
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 41 Arkansas men’s tennis won the team’s first Southeastern Conference match of the season in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon with a 4-3 victory over No. 37 Kentucky at Billingsley Tennis Center.
The home team claimed the doubles point after Dmitry Kopilevich and Brendan Boland took down Martin Breysach and Charlelie Cosnet, 6-3, on court three. The win on three followed the team’s 6-1 win on court two by No. 28 Jakub Vrba and Connor Smillie over Nicolas Arseneault and Jaden Weekes. Court one went unfinished with the Wildcats’ duo of No. 19 Jack Loutit and Eli Stephenson leading Ben Weintraub and Eric Padgham, 5-3.
The Hogs quickly extended their lead in singles play with an efficient 6-2, 6-1 win from Ben Weintraub over Jaden Weekes on court three. The Wildcats, however, rallied to win the next three matches and claim a 3-2 advantage. No. 77 Charlelie Cosnet bested Arsene Pougault 6-1, 6-3 on court five followed by Mikael Arseneault topping Brendan Boland 6-4, 6-4 on court six with No. 38 Jack Loutit’s 7-5, 6-4 victory on court four over Dmitry Kopilevich to push Arkansas to the brink.
After dropping the first set 2-6, Lukas Palovic rallied to take court two and bring the Razorbacks even at 3-3. Palovic won the second set 6-4 before breezing to a 6-1 victory for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Nicolas Arseneault. With the match coming down to court one, No. 21 Jakub Vrba saved his best for last. Vrba took the first set 7-5 before No. 24 Eli Stephenson bounced back with a 6-3 second-set victory. The pair battled into a tiebreak before Vrba emerged 8-6 to send the Hogs to their first SEC win of the season 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6).
Arkansas returns to action on the road this weekend with matches at Tennessee on Friday at 4 p.m. CT and at No. 8 Georgia at noon CT.
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