South Wichita News

Comeback Falls Short at Arkansas

Wichita State's battle from behind came up short in the Shockers' 4-1 loss to Arkansas Friday on the road.
 
"Tough match today. We had chances and didn't quite capitalize on those," head coach Darragh Glavin said. "We will get back to work and improve in a few areas, but I'm proud of our fight and the way we battled again today."
 
The Shockers gave the Razorbacks the doubles advantage with a quick loss at court one, but the Shockers didn't make it easy at two and three. Misha Kvantaliani and Richey King tied the match at 3-3 before going down 5-3. The almost tied it back up when it was 5-4 (40-40), but the Razorbacks clinched the doubles point, leaving Orel Ovil and Luke Bracks's court three match unfinished at 5-5.
 
Arkansas went up 2-0 with a straight-set win at No. 3 singles, but Kristof Minarik answered with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) victory at No. 1 singles to put the Shockers on the board.
 
"Kristof played at a very high level today," Glavin said. "He had one small blip, but he was able to regain composure in the end and get the win against a tough opponent."
 
The Razorbacks won every other first set across the courts, but Kvantaliani, Alex Richards and Alejandro Jacome sparked a comeback attempt with hard-fought second-set wins at No. 2, 4 and 5. The Razorbacks snagged another point with a win at court six, needing just one more won set to clinch the match.
 
All three Shockers went back and forth with their opponents, but Gerard Planelles wouldn't go away at No. 5 and ultimately handed Jacome his first singles loss, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. 

Original source can be found here.