Tulsa, Okla. — Georgia had Arkansas right where it wanted. It was going to come down to Monika Dancevic in singles, as it often has for the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs this season. In such situations, she has been money.

But this time Mighty Monika struck out. Or, more accurately, she cramped up.

Down 3-1 midway through her third-set war with Arkansas' Anouk Tigu, Dancevic had to call an injury timeout because of severe leg cramps. Rather than retire right then, Dancevic chose to soldier on. But she hobbled through the last three games and lost the set 6-1 to Tigu, a midyear freshman from the Netherlands. The point clinched the match 4-2 for the Razorbacks and sent them to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

"Everybody's good in the round of 16; everybody comes in with high hopes and great aspirations," said Georgia coach Jeff Wallace, whose 22nd season ended with the Bulldogs at 22-5. "Unfortunately we started cramping in that last match. But Arkansas played great today. You have to take your hat off to them."

Dancevic had a 12-match winning streak for the Bulldogs and had clinched a team-best six victories this season. It's a trademark that Arkansas recognized at the outset.

"Monika is probably the toughest player in the SEC; she is an executioner for Georgia," Arkansas coach Michael Hagarty said. "She has won so many matches for them. She did a great job fighting through [the injury]."

Instead, this one ended with Dancevic sobbing on a courtside bench as a trainer feverishly tried to loosen rope-taut muscles.

Afterward, Dancevic could barely speak but refused to use her cramps as an excuse.

"[Tigu] just played some good points," said Dancevic, whose junior season ends at 28-12. "I wasn't at the top of my game and she was."

As for that final set, Dancevic would say only, "When it comes to a third set I'm always confident."

The win gave Arkansas the rubber match in its series with Georgia this season. The Razorbacks (18-9) won 4-3 in Fayetteville on March 23, and the Bulldogs beat them 4-3 at the SEC Tournament last month.

"We have the greatest amount of respect for Georgia you could have and we figured this match was probably going to be 4-3 again," Hagarty said. "We knew it would take the kind of effort you saw."

Though Dancevic's was the deciding match, there was still a battle going on at No. 2 singles. Georgia's Kelley Hyndman won the first set 7-5 but trailed 3-4 in the second.

The Bulldogs' other win came from Naoko Ueshima at No. 4.

All season Georgia has struggled in doubles and at No. 1 singles, and they lost the doubles point to the Razorbacks for the third time this season.

But this time the Bulldogs' No. 1 doubles team of Kelley and Yvette Hyndman upset Arkansas' duo of Aurelija Miseviciute and Ela Kaluder 8-5. Georgia's No. 2 team of Cameron Ellis and Ueshima was up 6-4 before dropping the last four in a row in the first-to-eight-points format.

"I think it's a different situation," Wallace said of the Dogs pulling out the doubles point. "That really could have given us some unbelievable momentum going into singles."

The X factor, as it turned out, was Tigu. The freshman from The Netherlands entered Arkansas only in January. Her country's No. 1-player at the age of 16, she transferred in from St. Antonius College in Moorecht, Holland, four months ago.