After a marathon loss, Tennessee women’s tennis sprinted to victory, sweeping Arkansas 4-0. The No. 7 Lady Vols (8-2, 4-1 SEC) handled the Razorbacks (10-5, 1-4 SEC), claiming the doubles point and singles victories on the top three courts in straight sets.
After losing to Oklahoma 4-3 on Friday night, Tennessee responded to go 1-1 over the weekend.
“Today, for all of us, couldn’t come quick enough,” head coach Alison Ojeda said. “The best way to get over a match like Friday is to hurry up and play again.”
It wasn’t easy, but after a lackluster doubles session against the Sooners, the Lady Vols found their groove to open the match, picking up wins on courts two and three to take the doubles point.
Leyla Britez Risso and Maeve Thornton took down Arkansas’ Alexandra Panagiotidou and Arina Babenko on court three, 6-2. The Razorbacks would tie up the doubles session with No. 22 Carolina Gomez Alonso and Anet Koskel picking up the victory on court one over Francesca Mattioli and Vanesa Suarez, 6-4. Catherine Aulia and Katrina Scott would deliver the doubles win for Tennessee on court two, battling back to win 7-5 over Brooke Schafer and Jimena Gomez Alonso.
“I think that team is going to keep getting stronger and stronger,” Ojeda said. “Today, what I heard a lot was communication, so ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ from Cat, which is amazing because it literally just tells Katrina what to do and where to go.”
The doubles point clincher became Aulia and Scott’s first win as a tandem. The freshman and senior used their complementing skills to take the victory. Shortly after singles play began, rain moved the action inside to Goodfriend Tennis Center, but not before multiple Lady Vols got off to excellent starts. All in all, Tennessee took five first sets.
No. 20 Risso gave the Lady Vols their first singles win on court three, dominating Koskel 6-1, 6-0 to move to stay undefeated in singles play this spring. Suarez followed next for Tennessee, defeating Schafer on court two by the same margin, 6-1, 6-0. Suarez, who usually finds herself in tight matches, put her foot on the gas to make it 3-0 in the duel, bouncing back from a tough loss Friday night.
“Nobody ever lets the team down as long as they give everything they have,” Ojeda said. “After the match the other day, she was emotional. So I’m thrilled that we got to play today, and that’s what you saw out of her, just a focused start to a focused finish.”
The newest member of the Lady Vols delivered the clincher for Tennessee. Scott dominated the first set 6-0, then kept the momentum going against No. 23 Gomez Alonso. Scott ultimately claimed the match on a double fault, winning 6-3. She walked away with the clinching point in singles as well as doubles with Aulia.
The singles win is Scott’s first in front of the home crowd.
“It’s definitely amazing,” Scott said. “It was such a new experience to me, but I appreciated it so much.”
Tennessee found itself also leading on two other courts. Mattioli led Babenko 6-1, 4-1 on court five, and Aulia stood tied in the second set on court four against Alexandra after claiming the first set, 6-3.
“I think the best thing that they did was lean on one another,” Ojeda said. “We had a good, energetic practice yesterday, and then we came out here today and just took care of business.”
The Lady Vols head to Auburn for a showdown with the Tigers on March 12 at 4 p.m. ET.
