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Razorbacks power past Auburn to open SEC tournament

Arkansas earned the doubles point with ease and then added three timely singles wins to defeat No. 19 ranked Auburn on Thursday.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Arkansas earned the doubles point with ease and then added three timely singles wins, including the clincher from freshman Tatum Rice at No. 5 to defeat No. 19 ranked Auburn on Thursday in the second round of the 2018 SEC Women’s Tennis Tournament at the Dr. Robert L. Barksdale Tennis Stadium.

With the win, the No. 11 seed Razorbacks (9-15, 3-10 SEC) advanced to the tournament’s third round and will play No. 7 ranked and No. 3 seed South Carolina at 11 a.m. CT Friday.

“It’s just fantastic to see our players continue to grow and compete so hard in this part of the season,” Razorbacks coach Michael Hegarty said. “Every time we play Auburn it seems to go down to the wire and this was such a clutch performance by the whole team.”

Arkansas led the Tigers (20-10, 8-5 SEC) 3-2 with the match in the hands of Rice at No. 5 and sophomore Jackie Carr at No. 6.

Rice, the Hot Springs native, saved seven match points before finally earning the dramatic win 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) over Auburn’s Taylor Russo, which lifted the Razorbacks to their fourth victory over Auburn in the last six tries.

Rice lost the first set, bounced back in the second set, trailed 6-5 in the third and was down two match points at 40-15 before getting the points she needed to force the tiebreaker. Down 6-2 in the tiebreaker, she went on a six-point run to capture the victory.

“Tatum let two match points slip in yesterday’s match, but today, all she needed was one,” Hegarty said.

Thursday’s match marked the fourth consecutive 4-2 or 4-3 decision over the last two seasons between the Razorbacks and Tigers.

Other Razorbacks who contributed victories Thursday were sophomore No. 50 Giulia Pairone at the top spot, who improved to 13-5 this spring, and junior No. 89 Ana Oparenovic at No. 2.

The tandem of junior Agne Cepelyte and sophomore Natsuho Arakawa clinched the doubles point at No. 3 after No. 40 Oparenovic and Rice scored a win at the top spot to better their spring record to 13-5.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole MissL, 63-35
Sat, Nov 16vs Texas11:00 AM
Sat, Nov 23vs Louisiana TechTBD
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Sat, Nov 30@ MissouriTBD
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (18)8-02521
2.Conway (6)8-02302
3.Greenwood (2)8-02103
4.Little Rock Parkview7-11714
5.Bentonville5-31416
6.Benton7-11265
7.Fayetteville6-21008
8.Pulaski Academy6-2757
9.Rogers5-3459
10.Shiloh Christian6-24010
Others receiving votes: Marion 13, Valley View 9, Joe T Robinson 8, Mountain Home 4, Cabot 3, Elkins 3.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (20)8-01241
2.Conway (6)8-01052
3.Bentonville5-3753
4.Fayetteville6-2455
5.Pulaski Academy6-2354
Others receiving votes: Rogers 5.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (26)8-01301
2.Benton7-11022
3.Shiloh Christian6-2713
4.Marion7-1524
5.Mountain Home7-131
Others receiving votes: Little Rock Catholic 4.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (23)7-11271
2.Joe T Robinson7-1902
3.Valley View (3)8-0803
4.Hot Springs Lakeside7-1484
5.Farmington7-130
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 4, Maumelle 4, Morrilton 3, Greenbrier 2, Harding Academy 1.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (19)8-01161
2.Arkadelphia (5)6-2792
3.Little Rock Mills (1)8-0703
4.Warren6-2404
5.Malvern (1)8-0315
Others receiving votes: Dardanelle 22, Southside Batesville 11, Mena 8, Bauxite 7, DeWitt 4, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
4.Bismarck (15)8-01054
5.Fordyce (4)8-0765
Prescott (3)7-1531t
1.Osceola (2)6-149
3.Mayflower (1)8-036
Others receiving votes: Booneville (1) 31, Rivercrest 19, Mansfield 14, Charleston 4, Rison 3.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (21)8-01211
2.Conway Christian (4)8-01042
3.Des Arc7-1663
4.Bigelow (1)6-2455
5.Murfreesboro6-230
Others receiving votes: Marked Tree 10, Mineral Springs 6, Junction City 5, Cross County 1, Mount Ida 1, Poyen 1
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (25)5-0761
2.Midland (1)7-0502
3.Cedar Ridge7-1253
Others receiving votes: Rector 5.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.