LINCOLN, Neb. – A tight battle early, opened up down the stretch as the Creighton Men’s Tennis team dropped a 5-0 decision to Arkansas on Sunday night at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center in Lincoln, Neb.
The loss moves the Bluejays to 6-5 on the year, while the Razorbacks improved to 9-2 with the win.
Arkansas opened the night by earning a tight hard-fought doubles point. The Razorbacks picked up a 6-2 win at the No. 2 doubles position to take an early advantage. The Bluejays answered with a win at the No. 3 doubles spot as Zachary Kuo and Mathis Dahler teamed up for a 6-4 win over Lukas Palovic and Gabriel Elicha Navas to force a winner-take-all on court No. 1.
At the top doubles position, Creighton’s Yuma Daijima and Kirtan Patel tied the match at 5-5, but Arkansas’ Eric Padgham and Ben Weintraub won the final two games to claim a 7-5 win and give the Razorbacks a 1-0 edge in the match.
The two teams continued to battle back-and-forth throughout singles play, but it was Arkansas that secured straight set wins on the top four singles courts to clinch the overall dual.
Palovic captured a 6-3, 6-3 win over Patel at the top singles position, while Elicha Navas picked up a 6-2, 6-3 straight sets win over Rocky McKenzie on the No. 3 singles court to grab a 3-0 lead.
Arkansas’ Elicha Navas followed with a match clinching 6-0, 7-5 victory over Daijima on the No. 2 singles court, before Dmitry Kopilevich closed out the 5-0 victory with a 6-2, 7-6 win over Kuo at the No. 4 singles position.
The Bluejays are back in action for a Doubleheader on Thursday, Feb. 19 when they battle Saint Louis at 12 p.m. before taking on Northwest Missouri State at 7 p.m. at the Hanscom Tennis Center.