The UK women’s tennis team picked up a much-needed SEC win in Fayetteville this weekend. The Cats defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 4-1 and rose to a 4-6 SEC conference record and 15-7 overall. Following their loss, Arkansas will fall to 5-4 in SEC play and 16-9 overall.

In a grinding afternoon of doubles play, UK’s Nadia Ravita and Justina Mikulskytė secured the advantage as they defeated Razorback pairing Makenze Craft and Flavia Araujo with a convincing 6-2 decision.

Refusing to back down, Arkansas duo Mia Jurasic and Ana Operanovic brought their team back into contention with a 6-2 victory over UK’s Akvilė Paražinskaitė. To clinch the doubles point, Cats’ No. 2 ranked pair of Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi beat No. 77 ranked Razorback duo of Yuliya Lysa and Shannon Hudson 7-6, then making the tie break official with a 7-0 shut out.

Singles play, however, was not as contested, with UK winning three out of the first four courts to finish which clinched the match. Arkansas came strong out of the gate with a strong victory on court one. No. 34 Lysa of Arkansas defeated No. 56 Mikulskytė 6-4, 6-1.

After Lysa’s efforts to keep Arkansas close, UK rose to the challenge and won the next three courts. On court two, No. 53 Sutjiadi of UK calmly took down No. 86 Oparenovic 6-4, 6-2.

With two points on the board, the Cats made their move to put the match away. Ravita defeated Arkansas’ Hudson on court three 7-5, 6-2 to score the third point for the UK.

The match point for the Cats was clinched by Kirsten Lewis on court 6, taking victory over Sasha Shkorupeieva of Arkansas with a score of 7-5, 6-3. UK then retired courts four and five as a result of the clinched match.

Following their impressive road win, UK women will play their third straight road match against No. 60 Missouri. The match is scheduled for this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. eastern time.