TAT: Razorbacks face Wildcats in ITA Indoor Regional

This article originally appeared online on January 24, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website (uatrav.com).

After three shutout victories last weekend, UA head coach Michael Hegarty moved into a first-place tie with Kevin Platt for most victories by a women’s tennis head coach in UA history.

“I’ve been fortunate to be at a great place where I can be successful,” Hegarty said. “This is the best job for me in the country.”

The Razorbacks defeated Prairie View A&M, UT-Pan American and Lamar in Houston, Texas, with a score of 7-0 in each match.

With seven of the nine players on Arkansas’ roster being freshmen, Hegarty felt that his team gained valuable confidence heading into this weekend’s ITA Kickoff Weekend in Evanston, Ill.

“The thing I liked was that we pretty much won across the board, which was exciting for a lot of our inexperienced players,” Hegarty said. “Everything we wanted to accomplish, we did.”

While the Razorbacks dominated in singles matches, winning all 18 of them, they struggled in the doubles matches. They dropped two out of the nine doubles matches last weekend, an area they need to improve for this weekend.

“We’re a notch behind our singles with our doubles,” Hegarty said.

“We’ll be focusing more heavily on the doubles these next few weeks.”

Arkansas will face No. 13 Northwestern at Northwestern in the first round of the ITA Indoor Team Championships.

Hegarty sees this weekend as similar to the ITA Kickoff Weekend two years ago, when his team had to go through No. 4 Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., to move on in the Indoor Championships.

“We’re playing on the road and not as a favorite,” Hegarty said. “Our experience in this event should really help us.”

The Razorbacks also travelled to Evanston last season, but lost to Nebraska in the opening match.

“We didn’t get through the regional last year, and we’d really like to take one more step this year than we did last year,” Hegarty said.

The Wildcats are led by seniors Linda Abu Mushrefova, Kate Turvy and Brittany Wowchuk. Mushrefova was a doubles All-American two seasons ago and Turvy is a reigning First-Team All-Big Ten selection.

Depending on the result of their first match, the Razorbacks will either face No. 27 Purdue or No. 32 Washington State Saturday.

Regardless of who Arkansas plays, their “competition heats up” this weekend compared to previous matches, Hegarty said.

The Razorbacks play Northwestern at 11 a.m. Friday in Evanston, Ill.