FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 68-ranked Arkansas use home-court advantage Sunday with a pair of victories over SIUE men's tennis. Arkansas won the opener 6-1 and the nightcap 4-0.
SIUE Head Coach Jason Coomer said the matches were much closer than the final scores indicates.
"This has been a very good weekend for us from a competition standpoint starting with the win over Saint Louis and the high level of competition we faced today," Coomer said. "We certainly got better as a team this weekend."
Patrick Gaffigan scored the lone team point for the Cougars in the opener with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Arkansas' Jacob Herndon at No. 6 singles.
Nico Kuehn also took his No. 5 singles match into a third set before falling to Arkansas' Pete Thomason 5-7, 6-1, 10-3.
After a complete first match, Arkansas and SIUE started a second round of singles. Coomer made a few changes to his lineup to allow his team to see new, competitive opposition.
"One great thing about this team is that it is deep and competitive at all positions, and we had some very tight matches today because of that," Coomer said.
Arkansas would win four matches in straight sets, but the Cougars were holding tight in the two unfinished matches.
"Arkansas is a very talented team out of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They played a little bit better than we did today, and that's why they have been in the national rankings over the last two weeks," Coomer said.
SIUE's Nicolas Vincent and Arkansas' Juan Marino were set to go to the deciding third set at No. 2 singles when the team scoring was clinched. Gaffigan also was headed to a third set with Thomason at No. 5 singles. Both Vincent and Gaffigan had won the first set of their respective matches.
"Patrick played extremely well all weekend for us," said Coomer. "He got the win against Saint Louis and in the first match today. Patrick was, without question, in control when the match was clinched."
The Cougars now return home for a dual match next Sunday in Edwardsville against Southern Indiana. Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
