TULSA — It’s been more than nine months since Arkansas junior Aurelija Miseviciute saw her name at No. 119 in the Intercolleigate Tennis Association’s preseason rankings.

Fifty-one singles victories later, Miseviciute is ranked No. 1 and within three victories of a national championship.

“It’s been a long year and my body is beginning to tell me I have played a lot of matches,” Miseviciute said Friday.

Miseviciute, a 5-8 native of Lithuania, showed few signs of slowing down, though, and protected her top-ranked status with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Miami’s Laura Vallverdu at the NCAA Championships. The victory put Miseviciute into today’s quarterfinals, in which she’ll face UCLA’s Rita Zalameda at noon.

Miseviciute’s 51 st victory extended her school record for most matches won in a season, previously held by Marcus Hilpert. Hilpert went 47-4 in 1994, while Miseviciute is 51-5 this season. Lori Zacharias, who won 44 matches in 1981, owned the previous mark for most victories in a season by a Lady Razorback.

Miseviciute, the tournament’s top seed, wasted an early break in the first set Friday before eventually pulling out a 7-5 victory over Vallverdu. The start of the match was delayed by roughly an hour because of rain, and Miseviciute said she let the wet and windy conditions affect her in the early going.

“Waiting around for the match to start, along with some tough conditions, I really lost focus in the first set,” Miseviciute said. “[Vallverdu ] played very well and every point was back-andforth. It could have gone either way.” Once Miseviciute broke Vallverdu to go up 2-0 in the second set, though, the tide turned. Miseviciute cruised to a 6-1 victory to set up a rematch of sorts with Zalameda.

“The key to the second set was I adjusted to the wind and tried to move [Vallverdu ] around more to force difficult shots,” Miseviciute said. “I looked past some distractions and capitalized on her forehand to win the match.” Miseviciute and Zalameda, seeded eighth, split sets last week during Arkansas’ quarterfinal match against eventual national champion UCLA. The Bruins won the match 4-0 before the Miseviciute-Zalameda match was completed.

Five of the top eight seeds remain in contention for this week’s individual championship, and the winner of today’s Miseviciute-Zalameda match will meet the winner of No. 4 Maria Mosolova (Northwestern ) vs. unseeded Zuzana Zemenova (Baylor ).

Miseviciute grabbed the No. 1 national ranking after winning the ITA National Indoor Championships, the fall season equivalent of an NCAA national championship, in December.

She won six qualifying matches to gain entry into the ITA event, then beat three Top-25 opponents en route to the title.

Now she’s looking to cap a remarkable spring run that includes playing doubles with classmate Ela Kaluder. The two lost to Fresno State’s top-ranked team of Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe 6-3, 7-6 (2 ) in a second-round match Friday night, but Miseviciute still has plenty to play for in Tulsa.

“I love the atmosphere here, and I’m just fortunate to continue to play here,” Miseviciute said. “Although we lost to UCLA here last week, I just feel like this is a bonus to play in both singles and doubles this week. To make it this far in the tournament is a true blessing, but my goal in singles is to stay to my game and keep advancing.

“ Ela and I have played well together all season, and it’s such an honor that we’re here playing with some of the best doubles pairs in the nation.” NCAA Division I Championship At Michael D. Case Tennis Center, Tulsa, Okla. Round of 16 MEN’S SINGLES Somdev Devvarman, Virginia, def. Erling Tveit, Mississippi, 6-3, 6-1 Denes Lukacs, Baylor, def. Robert Farah, Southern California, 7-5, 6-3 Bassam Beidas, Pepperdine, def. Travis Helgeson, Georgia, 6-1, 6-4 Alex Clayton, Stanford, def. Bryan Koniecko, Ohio State, 6-2, 7-6 (5 ) Justin Kronauge, Ohio State, def. Lars Poerschke, Baylor, 6-3, 7-6 (4 ) Andre Begemann, Pepperdine, def. Oleksandr Nedovyesov, Oklahoma State, 6-3, 7-5 Steven Moneke, Ohio State, def. Arnau Brugues, Tulsa, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 J. P. Smith, Tennessee, def. Enrique Olivares, East Tennessee State, 6-2, 6-2 WOMEN’S SINGLES Aurelija Miseviciute, Arkansas, def. Laura Vallverdu, Miami, 7-5, 6-1 Riza Zalameda, UCLA, def. Claire Ilcinkas, California, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 Maria Mosolova, Northwestern, def. Katrina Zheltova, Sacramento State, 6-4, 6-2 Zuzana Zemenova, Baylor, def. Melanie Gloria, Fresno State, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 Amanda McDowell, Georgia Tech, def. Tracy Lin, UCLA, 6-4, 6-2 Lenka Broosova, Baylor, def. Reka Zsilinszka, Duke, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 Amanda Fink, Southern California, def. Megan Moulton-Levy, William and Mary, 6-2, 6-1 Fani Chifchieva, Auburn, def. Ani Mijacika, Clemson, 6-2, 6-4