Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Tennis Disposes Of Tulsa
April 22, 2004 | Cowboy Tennis
OSU improved to 16-3 on the season with the win, while TU dropped to 10-13.
Mark Van Elden and Juan Felipe Diaz switched playing partners for the first time this season. Van Elden paired up with Tomas Bohunicky, while Diaz was with Daniel Byrnes. The plan seemed to backfire as the Pokes got off to a slow start. Tulsa led by a break in all three doubles' matches.
“We have not won a doubles' point against a good solid tennis team in the last couple of years,” Wadley said. “We were not getting much production out of our No. 3 doubles' team so I decided to get three teams that were a little more equal. We are going to look at it and we may change it again, but I was proud of how we fought back after we trailed by a break at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.”
“We knew it was going to be tight playing on Tulsa's home courts,” Coach Wadley said. “We knew they would be very tough and we hung on by our fingernails.”
At No. 1 doubles, 40th-ranked Dustin Taylor and Alejandro Tejerina jumped all over Van Elden and Bohunicky. Taylor and Tejerina led 6-1 before holding on for an 8-4 victory. TU needed one of the remaining two matches to claim the doubles' point.
At No. 3, Byrnes and Diaz trailed, 5-3, to Aleksander Charpantidis and Tom Murray, but were able to turn it on and quickly get a break back to even the match up at five. Byrnes and Diaz were both able to hold onto their serve, while getting a break in the process to close out the match and even the doubles' point at one.
Yevgen Bondarchuk and Boris Kuharic were left fighting for the first point of the dual with Tulsa's Diego Camacho and Shunsuke Shimizu at the No. 2 position. Bondarchuk and Kuharic trailed, 5-3, but quickly stormed back to grab a 6-5 lead. Tulsa was able to hold its serve to tie the match up, but OSU took the lead, 7-6. The Pokes were able to get the break to claim the match and give the Pokes an early 1-0 advantage in the dual.
In singles, the Cowboys started off a little faster, winning four of the six first sets, but fell asleep in the second set. Five of the six matches ended up needing a third set to decide the match.
Van Elden was the lone Cowboy to win in straight sets, but it took a major rally in the second set to pull it off. No. 29 Van Elden won the first set over No. 100 Taylor, but got down 5-2 in the second set. Van Elden quickly rattled off the next five games to finish off the match and take the second set 7-5.
Bohunicky needed a third set to take down Shimizu after he got shut out in the second set.
Bondarchuk sealed the dual with a three-set win over 102nd-ranked Tejerina at the No. 2 position.
The Cowboys also got a win out of Boris Kuharic at the No. 4 position, while Tulsa got its only victories in the last two singles' matches.
Assistant Coach Chris Milliron was thrilled with the victory getting a chance to come back and coach against his alma mater.
The Cowboys will return to Big 12 action when they travel to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“Texas A&M is awfully tough,” Wadley said. “They are going to be ready for us after we beat them last year and a lot will be on the line in terms of Big 12 Tournament placement.”
No. 29 Oklahoma State 5, No. 60 Tulsa 2
Singles
1. No. 29 Mark Van Elden (OSU) def. No. 100 Dustin Taylor (TU) 6-4, 7-5
2. Yevgen Bondarchuk (OSU) def. No. 102 Alejandro Tejerina (TU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
3. Tomas Bohunicky (OSU) def. Shunsuke Shimizu (TU) 6-2, 0-6, 6-4
4. Boris Kuharic (OSU) def. Aleksander Charpantidis (TU) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
5. Tom Murray (TU) def. Juan Felipe Diaz (OSU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
6. Federico Soriano (TU) def. Daniel Byrnes (OSU) 7-6, 3-6, 7-6
Doubles
1. No. 40 Taylor/Tejerina (TU) def. Van Elden/Bohunicky (OSU) 8-4
2. Kuharic/Bondarchuk (OSU) def. Charpantidis/Murray (TU) 8-6
3. Byrnes/Diaz (OSU) def. Camacho/Shimizu 8-5
