FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 14 Auburn men’s tennis was defeated by Arkansas 6-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Billingsley Tennis Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Auburn freshman Manel Lazaro provided the Tigers’ lone point in the contest, winning in three sets at the No. 6 singles position.
On the top doubles court, Auburn’s Billy and Freddy Blaydes won each of the first two games over Arkansas’ Ben Weintraub and Eric Padgham and closed out a 6-1 win by taking four straight games. The win marked the 15th overall this season for the Blaydes brothers and improved their dual match record as a doubles pair to 10-5 this season. The Razorbacks then won the remaining two doubles matches to clinch the doubles point.
In singles, Arkansas continued its momentum by winning the first set on four courts, including two via tiebreakers. Nicholas Heng and Lazaro each won the opening set in their respective matches for Auburn.
Arkansas closed out straight-set victories at the No. 4 and No. 2 positions to build a 3-0 lead. On court five, Auburn’s Alan Bojarski came back from a 4-2 opening-set deficit to Arkansas’ Arsene Pougault to take a 5-4 lead. The set went to a tiebreaker, which was won by Pougault. He went on to win the match 7-6 (5), 6-3 to clinch the team victory for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas’ Ben Weintraub bounced back from an opening-set loss to Heng by winning the second set 6-3 to force a third. Weintraub then won each of the first two games of the final set before ultimately winning the match 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 after the team result was decided.
At the No. 6 position, Lazaro and Arkansas’ Brendan Boland went back and forth in the first set, but Lazaro earned a break in the final game to take it 6-4. Boland responded with a 6-3 second-set win to force a third. The Auburn freshman closed out the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Arkansas claimed the final match at the No. 1 singles position, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), [10-6], to make the final score 6-1.
The loss drops Auburn’s record to 14-5 this season and evens its conference record at 4-4. Up next, Auburn will return home to face LSU on Friday at 3 p.m. CT. Friday’s match will be Kids Club Day, with fans receiving popsicles while supplies last and kids invited to take part in a clinic on the courts with coaches and players after the match.
#37 Arkansas 6, #14 Auburn 1
Singles Results:
- #18 Jakub Vrba (ARK) def. #40 Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 7-6 (7- 5), 6-7 (6- 8), [10-6]
- Lukas Palovic (ARK) def. #76 Billy Blaydes (AUB) 6-4, 7-5
- Ben Weintraub (ARK) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Gabriel Elicha Navas (ARK) def. Freddy Blaydes (AUB) 6-4, 6-4
- Arsene Pougault (ARK) def. Alan Bojarski (AUB) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
- Manel Lazaro (AUB) def. Brendan Boland (ARK) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Doubles Results:
- #63 Billy Blaydes/Freddy Blaydes (AUB) def. #44 Ben Weintraub/Eric Padgham (ARK) 6-1
- #64 Jakub Vrba/Connor Smillie (ARK) def. Nicholas Heng/Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-3
- Dmitry Kopilevich/Brendan Boland (ARK) def. Jake Kennedy/Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-1
Time of match: 3:08 Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2,3; Singles: 4,2,5,3,6,1