Rice, Razorbacks seeded 11th in SEC Tournament

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Arkansas Razorbacks women’s tennis team was seeded 11th in this week’s Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament after closing the regular season with a

4-2 win at No. 31 Tennessee on Saturday. Tennessee (17-8, 3-10) won the doubles point, but the Razorbacks (7-15, 3-10) stormed out in singles action, earning four victories, including the clincher from sophomore Natsuho Arakawa at No.

4, for the overall match victory in Knoxville, Tenn. It was Arkansas’ third straight victory against the Volunteers.

“This was the epitome of a total team performance, and I’m very proud and happy for our players who overcame plenty of adversity on this road trip,” Razorbacks head coach Michael Hegarty said. “After losing a tough doubles point it was impressive the manner in which the team dug just a bit deeper to come out on top.”

The Volunteers’ doubles point came by way of victories at the top two spots after Razorbacks Arakawa and junior Agne Cepelyte struck first,

6-2, at No. 3.

An early deficit wouldn’t stop the Razorbacks from winning the first set at the top three spots and turning each of those leads into victories before Arakawa delivered a three-set comeback win to give Arkansas the team victory.

Sophomore No. 51 Giulia Pairone defeated Sadie Hammond, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 1; junior No. 83 Ana Oparenovic moved past Elizabeth Profit, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 2; senior Mia Jurasic topped Ariadna Riley, 7-6

(7-4), 6-1, at No. 3; and Arakawa scored the clinching victory at No. 4.

At the clinch, freshman Tatum Rice, of Lakeside, was entering a third set after winning the second,

6-3, at No. 5.

Arkansas will face No. 14-seeded Missouri (1116, 0-13) in the first round on Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Dr. Robert L. Barksdale Tennis Stadium in Knoxville.

The Razorbacks topped the Tigers, 4-1, on March 2 during the regular season. Arkansas is 8-3 all-time against Missouri and has won five of the last seven meetings between the two schools.

The winner of Wednesday’s match will face off against No. 6-seeded and No. 20-ranked Auburn

(20-9, 8-5) on Thursday at 11 a.m., in the second round.

Barford earns MVP honors at Portsmouth tournament

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Former Arkansas men’s basketball standout Jaylen Barford went up against the best college seniors in the nation over the weekend and earned Most Valuable Player honors at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Virginia.

Leading his team to a perfect 3-0 record, Barford finished second in the tournament in scoring at 19.3 points per game, including pouring in 23 points and adding five rebounds in the semifinals. He shot 38 percent from behind the arc and averaged 6.7 rebounds per contest.

Teammate Daryl Macon averaged 10.7 points per game. He led all players with 23 assists, an average of 7.7 per game.

The Portsmouth Invitational includes 64 college basketball seniors from across the nation in a four-day, 12 game tournament in front of representatives from all 30 NBA teams. Held every year since 1953, the tournament is a showcase for future professional players with approximately 200 NBA representatives attending the event this year.

The 2018 NBA Draft is scheduled for June 21.