FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas ’ Aurelija Miseviciute figured she’d hit rock bottom when she received a code violation and point penalty for uttering a “bad word” during the third set of last week’s ITA National Indoor Championships title match.

“I got unlucky because the umpire knew what I said,” said a laughing Miseviciute, who is from Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Then something unexpected happened. Miseviciute, who was down 3-1 in the deciding set at that point, let go of the nervousness and anxiety that had prevented her from displaying the form of the nation’s No. 1-ranked player and defending ITA indoor champ.

Arkansas Coach Michael Hegarty said the change in Miseviciute’s game was immeidately noticeable, and she “just kind of played free-flowing. Everything went in, and she played her best tennis of the semester.”

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Miseviciute lost the game in which she received the point penalty, but then won five consecutive games to score a dramatic 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Clemson’s Ana Mijacika, the nation’s second-ranked player and the same opponent Miseviciute defeated to capture the 2007 ITA championship.

“Both of them feel pretty special,” Miseviciute said. “I can’t really say that one is better than the other. The trophies are pretty much the same. They both are nice.”

Miseviciute, a senior, also advanced to the semifinals of last season’s NCAA Championships — played outdoors at the conclusion of the spring season. Arkansas also sent the doubles team of Nanar Airapetian and Anuok Tigu to the ITA semifinals, and opens it spring season on Jan. 23.

Miseviciute, who wasn’t available for interviews until after she completed a makeup test in international macroeconomics late Tuesday afternoon, said she almost accepted the notion of losing when she fell behind 4-1 in the third set, but relied on the same approach that’s helped her reach the No. 1 ranking.

“That’s how I think in every match,” she said. “Play to the last point.”

Hegarty said he never lost faith in Miseviciute.

“I always thought she would win,” Hegarty said, “but I just didn’t know how. It definitely was not looking good.”

For a moment — in Russian, at least — it didn’t sound too good, either.