Auburn women team got a 6-1 defeat against Arkansas

The Auburn University women’s tennis team got the fourth conference loss of the season Arkansas, by a final score of 6-1, on Friday night.

Auburn will stay on the road to fight Missouri in an Easter Day game in Springfield, Missouri at 11:00 CT. The live score of the match will be available online at mutigers.com.

With the win, Arkansas hit the 500 mark with a 10-10 overall record and a 4-7 record in the SEC. The loss to Auburn dropped their record to 16-6 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

Auburn coach Caroline Lilley said: “Really proud of our team. It’s definitely not the result any of us wanted, but we’ve faced adversity with class and struggle. We have nothing to hang our heads about. We have more tennis to play, more games to compete in and growth and development to pursue.”

The doubles point began with Adeline Flach and Angella Okutoyi earning their eighth doubles win of the season by upsetting Grace O’Donnell and Lenka Stara, the 75th ranked doubles team in the nation, by a score of 6-3. The other two close doubles games were decided by a tiebreaker. The Tigers fell in both tiebreaks, giving Arkansas the doubles point.

Okutoyi and Ariana Arseneault both claimed first set in their respective matches to start singles play. Flach and Carolyn Ansari each lost their matches in straight sets to give the Razorbacks a 3–0 lead.

The Tigers didn’t stop struggling, as Kaitlyn Carnicella and Ali DeSpain both forced third sets in their respective games. All four remaining matches eventually reached a third set.

Arkansas’ Leka Stara completed a comeback to defeat Okutoyi 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 to clinch the game win for the Razorbacks. Moments after Stara grabbed the team victory, Auburn freshman Kaitlyn Carnicella grabbed her ninth singles double-hit of the season over Indianna Spink 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to put the Tigers on the board.

Arseneault then lost the third set in her match to Kelly Keller 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 and Ali DeSpain fell in a close tie to decide the third set in her match to Kacie Harvey 13-11.

Photo Credits: Auburn University website