Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Tennis Outlasts Oklahoma 4-1
May 01, 2004 | Cowboy Tennis
OKLAHOMA City, Okla. – Oklahoma State's 30th-ranked men's tennis team lost the doubles point at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Okla., and then went on to win four straight singles matches at the Woodlake Racquet Club in Oklahoma City to defeat Oklahoma for the 10th consecutive time in the first round of the Big 12 Tennis Tournament late Friday night.
OU had the benefit of a boisterous home crowd at the start of the doubles matches. The Sooners used that to its advantage and got off to a quick start in all three doubles matches.
Alexei Ivanov and Matt Long got the first victory for OU defeating OSU's Yevgen Bondarchuk and Boris Kuharic 8-5 at the No. 2 spot.
In the No. 3 match, Daniel Byrnes and Juan Felipe Diaz found themselves down quickly 4-0 to Lee Gregg and Marek Velicka. Byrnes and Diaz rallied and came away with a 9-7 victory to even the doubles' point.
The point came down to the No.1 position where OU's Ondrej Fukala and Tommy Garrison had control throughout the match. OSU's Mark Van Elden was serving to tie the match, but he failed to hold and OU got the early point.
Rain began to fall as soon as the match was over and the singles matches shifted to the Woodlake Racquet Club in Oklahoma City.
“It was a good call to move it inside,” Oklahoma State head coach James Wadley said. “OU had a great crowd and we came to a place where they play all their matches on a fast court. I thought our guys did a super job despite everything being stacked against them.”
Bondarchuk quickly evened the dual with a straight set victory over Oklahoma's Fukala.
Tomas Bohunicky started to turn things in the Cowboys favor after he left the court in straight sets over Velichka.
Kuharic lost the first set to Garrison, but came back to win the next two. Oklahoma State needed just one more victory after Kuharic won.
Mark Van Elden played a tight match with OU's Alexei Ivanov. Both players used their strong serve and traded service games that Ivanov eventually won in a tiebreaker. Van Elden came out in the second set and got a quick break and made it hold up to even the match at a set a piece. Van Elden got a break in the third set and was able to hold off Ivanov and give the Cowboys the match.
“It comes down to one or two points in each set,” Van Elden said. “He was just too good for me in the first set tiebreaker. In the second set I got the extra couple of points and everything went my way.”
The Cowboys will play in the semifinal match against top seeded Baylor at 3:30 p.m. at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Okla.
#30 Oklahoma State 4, #75 Oklahoma 1
Doubles
1. Fukala/Garrison (OU) def. Van Elden/Bohunicky (OSU) 8-6
2. Ivanov/Long (OU) def. Bondarchuk/Kuharic (OSU) 8-5
3. Byrnes/Diaz (OSU) def. Gregg/Velicka (OU) 9-7
Singles
1. No. 23 Mark Van Elden (OSU) def. Alexei Ivanov (OU) 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
2. Yevgen Bondarchuk (OSU) def. Ondrej Fukala (OU) 6-1, 7-5
3. Tomas Bohunicky (OSU) def. Marek Velicka (OU) 7-6, 6-4
4. Boris Kuharic (OSU) def. Tommy Garrison (OU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Daniel Byrnes (OSU) vs. Silviu Tanasoiu (OU) DNF
6. Juan Felipe Diaz (OSU) vs. Lee Gregg (OU) DNF
