Razorbacks and Vols advance on Day 1 of SEC Tournament

Match 1: Arkansas 4, Missouri 1

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- An impressive performance in singles action helped No. 11 seed Arkansas to a 4-1 win against No. 14 seed Missouri on Wednesday in the first round of the 2018 Southeastern Conference Women's Tennis Tournament at the Dr. Robert L. Barksdale Tennis Stadium.

The Razorbacks (8-15, 3-10 SEC) surrendered the doubles point, but used four consecutive singles victories in straight sets to secure the overall team win over the Tigers (13-17, 0-13).

"Today was a very strong performance," Razorbacks head coach Michael Hegarty said. "Tons of credit to Missouri, they have been so close to a lot more wins this year and their coaches and players are doing a great job. This conference just has no mercy sometimes. The past two seasons we were at team match point on the eventual national champions (Vanderbilt, 2016; Florida, 2017) and still we went a month both seasons where we couldn't win a conference match. So credit to both teams today, this was a quality match in the greatest league."

No. 50 Giulia Pairone provided the clinching victory at the top spot, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0. With the win, she improved to 12-5 on this spring.

Mia Jurasic got the first singles win of the day at No. 3, a 6-1, 6-0 decision. No. 89 Ana Oparenovic then bested her opponent 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 before Jackie Carr set up the clincher with a 6-4, 6-4 win of her own and her first ever against a conference opponent at No. 6.

The Razorbacks will play No. 6 seed Auburn at 11 a.m. CT Thursday.

Match 2: Tennessee 4, Alabama 1

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The 12th-seeded Tennessee women's tennis team defeated Alabama 4-1 in the First Round of the SEC Women's Tennis Tournament Wednesday afternoon in Barksdale Stadium.

The No. 35 Lady Vols (18-10) came out hot Wednesday afternoon, taking the doubles point in straight matches. Tennessee's number two pair of Sadie Hammond and Gabby Schuck struck first with a 6-1 victory over Alba Cortina-Pou and Smith Hinton. The number three duo of Elizabeth Profit and Chelsea Sawyer recorded a win over Jacqueline Pelletier and Luca Fabian, 6-2, to give UT an early 1-0 lead.

In singles play, Tennessee extended its lead to 2-0 after Gabby Schuck defeated Alba Cortina-Pou on Court 5, 6-3, 6-2. Kaitlin Staines followed that up with a victory over Ann Selim on Court 4, 7-5, 1-6, 6-2. The Crimson Tide recorded their first and only point of the match on Court 3, but Johanna Silva clinched the match for the Volunteers with a 6-2, 6-3, 7¬-5 win over Kylie Moulin.

UT plays fifth-seeded Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC Women's Tennis Tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. in Barksdale Stadium.