Oklahoma State University Athletics
Year in Review: Cowboy Tennis
June 14, 2007 | Cowboy Tennis
Coming into the season, head coach James Wadley new his 2007 version of Cowboys tennis had a chance to be special. The squad returned All-American Daniel Byrnes and third-ranked Ivan Puchkarov. OSU also returned senior Artie Burmistrau, who had been a rock in the middle of the lineup since his arrival in Stillwater, and sophomores Nathan Byrnes and Oleksandr Kotsiuk who both manned the No. 6 position effectively their freshman campaigns. In fact, the Pokes were ranked No. 16 in the initial preseason ranking, the highest ever position for a Cowboy team starting a season.
There were some question marks as Daniel, the Cowboy's top singles player in ‘06, suffered a severe back injury late in his junior campaign and the coaching staff did not know how he would respond. The Pokes would also need two freshmen to come in immediately and have an impact if they wanted to build on the program's recent success.
Wadley did not have much time to find answers. After only having freshmen Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Dmytro Petrov on campus for little over a week, the Cowboys traveled to Tulsa to compete in the Central Region Qualifier. The winner of the event would advance on to the prestigious National Indoor Team Championships in Chicago. The squad answered some of Wadley's concerns as the Cowboys edged out in-state rivals Oklahoma and Tulsa to advance to Chicago.
OSU had a tough task in the first round as they would face host school and seventh-ranked Illinois in the first round. In front of a hostile crowd, OSU battled strong but fell, 4-2, after Petrov lost a third-set tiebreaker. The Illini would later advance to the NCAA Finals in May. It would be the last time the Cowboys suffered a defeat for over two months.
The Cowboys started their win streak by defeating highly-ranked Miami (Fla.) and Duke in the consolation rounds at National Indoors. The Pokes would go on to win 11-straight duals.
The strong showing in Chicago answered some of Wadley's questions and showed the young Cowboy squad they could compete with the nation's best.
“We went up there and played Illinois very close. We lost 7-6 by a tiebreaker in the third. After that, we felt like we could compete with most anybody in the country,” Wadley said. “We entered the tournament young and a little beat up. Ivan (Puchkarov) was a little out of shape so we had some question marks. These young guys came in and had fantastic years. Daniel (Byrnes) came back and did a decent enough job to keep us competitive.”
One of the wins in the streak came on March 8 against Penn. The win was significant because it gave Wadley his 600th-career win, becoming just the seventh active coach to reach the milestone. The dean of OSU coaches has spent all of his 35-year college coaching career at the helm of the program. He has won just under 70 percent of his matches and has only suffered three losing seasons during his career. Next season, he will tie legendary basketball coach Henry Iba as the longest tenured head coach in OSU's history.
O-State would peak at No. 7 in the ITA Rankings, a school record. During one seven-match stretch, including duals against Tulsa, Arkansas and Texas, the Cowboys would outscore their opponents 40-4.
OSU entered the NCAA Tournament 17-4 and as the No. 8 seed nationally, a program best. The Cowboys also hosted an NCAA regional for the third-straight season. After beating a talented Sacramento State team in the first round, the Cowboys faced Bedlam-rival OU for the right to advance to the round of 16 in Athens, Ga. It was all OSU as the Pokes shut out the Sooner to notch their 17th-straight win over their rival.
“We are the only team in the state of Oklahoma to host a regional and we have done it three years in a row, so that is quite an accomplishment to the kids and the program,” Wadley said.
It was a banner year for college tennis in the state of Oklahoma as OSU, OU and Tulsa each had, arguably, its best season ever. In fact, all three schools finished in the top 26. The only other states with more than two teams in the top 26 were North Carolina and California.
“Tulsa and Oklahoma both had their best teams in years and we were able to go 5-0 against them. Oral Roberts won their conference and was an NCAA team,” Wadley said. “It really is a compliment to our kids. Both OU and Tulsa were ranked in the 18-26 range most of the season. It was a great year for college tennis in this state.”
The season came to an end against No. 9 UCLA in the round of 16. The Cowboys finished the season 19-5 and ranked No. 11 in the country. Individually, Nedovyesov finished ranked No. 23 and Puchkarov came in at No. 29.
The consistency of his young squad throughout the season stood out in Wadley's mind.
“They played as close as they could to their level most of the time. We did not have any big letdowns from individuals or the team,” Wadley said. “Normally, when we got beat, the team was better than us on that given day. That is a compliment to the kids. This year we made steady progress all year and for a young team, that is good.”
And the Pokes did it against a tough schedule.
“Pretty much every team we played this season was ranked. We did not really play any bad teams. We had to compete every time out and I think that kept us sharp,” Wadley said. “You are going to have some losses. Everybody cannot play at the top of their game all the time. These guys, for the most part, rose to the occasion most of the year. We had two freshman in the lineup and three new doubles teams, in a way in was a rebuilding year but we were pretty strong.”
The Cowboys had an outstanding season as evident by a plethora of individual honors.
James Wadley was named the Central Region's Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career. He was also recognized by his peers, for the first time in his career, as they co-Big 12 Coach of the Year.
Nedovyesov proved through out the season he was one of the best freshman in the country. The Ukraine native played every match at No. 1 singles and led the team with 19 wins. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week a conference-best three times. He was also voted the Big 12's Freshman and Newcomer of the Year and was a unanimous All-Big 12 selection in both singles and doubles, with teammate Daniel Byrnes. Nedovyesov was especially outstanding in conference play where he was the co-Big 12 Champion at No. 1 singles. The Central Region also named Nedovyesov its' Rookie of the Year and Player to Watch.
Puchkarov was also a unanimous All-Big 12 selection and was the co-Big 12 Champion at No. 2 singles. He teamed with Petrov to win the Big 12 title at No. 3 singles. and the duo was also named All-Big 12 by the Waco Tribune.
Senior Artie Burmistrau completed his eligibility in stellar fashion as he was the co-Big 12 Champion at No. 5 singles. Burmistrau also worked hard off the court as evident by his selection to the Academic All-Big 12 team. Fellow senior Jason Wright joined Burmistrau as an academic all-conference selection.
With the school-records, career milestones and individual awards, where do the 2007 Cowboys rank amongst the schools best?
“This team has to rank as one of the top two we have ever had. It may be the best we have ever had, as far as rankings it was,” Wadley said. “We have had some awfully good teams that finished pretty high. We have never had two player finish in the top 30. Winning individual Big 12 titles at No. 1 and 2 singles is pretty impressive. Ivan, at one point, was ranked No. 3 which is the highest we have had a player since Pavel Kudrnac. We had a lot of good things happen this year. It makes you excited about what could happen next season.”
In 2008, the Cowboys will return four letterwinners and three of their top four singles players. Nedovyesov and Puchkarov should both be ranked in the preseason top 20, giving Wadley high expectations for next season. The key will be finding two more solid players to fill in the holes.
“Petrov is not far behind Nedovyesov and Ivan. Nathan has made great strides both years he has been here, hopefully he makes another jump next year,” Wadley said. “We need to solidify doubles and find a really good player to team with Nedovyesov. We have to pull a rabbit out of our hat like we did last year and find two players who can immediately contribute. We have been fortunate enough the last two years to find impact players.”
There were some question marks as Daniel, the Cowboy's top singles player in ‘06, suffered a severe back injury late in his junior campaign and the coaching staff did not know how he would respond. The Pokes would also need two freshmen to come in immediately and have an impact if they wanted to build on the program's recent success.
Wadley did not have much time to find answers. After only having freshmen Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Dmytro Petrov on campus for little over a week, the Cowboys traveled to Tulsa to compete in the Central Region Qualifier. The winner of the event would advance on to the prestigious National Indoor Team Championships in Chicago. The squad answered some of Wadley's concerns as the Cowboys edged out in-state rivals Oklahoma and Tulsa to advance to Chicago.
OSU had a tough task in the first round as they would face host school and seventh-ranked Illinois in the first round. In front of a hostile crowd, OSU battled strong but fell, 4-2, after Petrov lost a third-set tiebreaker. The Illini would later advance to the NCAA Finals in May. It would be the last time the Cowboys suffered a defeat for over two months.
The Cowboys started their win streak by defeating highly-ranked Miami (Fla.) and Duke in the consolation rounds at National Indoors. The Pokes would go on to win 11-straight duals.
The strong showing in Chicago answered some of Wadley's questions and showed the young Cowboy squad they could compete with the nation's best.
“We went up there and played Illinois very close. We lost 7-6 by a tiebreaker in the third. After that, we felt like we could compete with most anybody in the country,” Wadley said. “We entered the tournament young and a little beat up. Ivan (Puchkarov) was a little out of shape so we had some question marks. These young guys came in and had fantastic years. Daniel (Byrnes) came back and did a decent enough job to keep us competitive.”
One of the wins in the streak came on March 8 against Penn. The win was significant because it gave Wadley his 600th-career win, becoming just the seventh active coach to reach the milestone. The dean of OSU coaches has spent all of his 35-year college coaching career at the helm of the program. He has won just under 70 percent of his matches and has only suffered three losing seasons during his career. Next season, he will tie legendary basketball coach Henry Iba as the longest tenured head coach in OSU's history.
O-State would peak at No. 7 in the ITA Rankings, a school record. During one seven-match stretch, including duals against Tulsa, Arkansas and Texas, the Cowboys would outscore their opponents 40-4.
OSU entered the NCAA Tournament 17-4 and as the No. 8 seed nationally, a program best. The Cowboys also hosted an NCAA regional for the third-straight season. After beating a talented Sacramento State team in the first round, the Cowboys faced Bedlam-rival OU for the right to advance to the round of 16 in Athens, Ga. It was all OSU as the Pokes shut out the Sooner to notch their 17th-straight win over their rival.
“We are the only team in the state of Oklahoma to host a regional and we have done it three years in a row, so that is quite an accomplishment to the kids and the program,” Wadley said.
It was a banner year for college tennis in the state of Oklahoma as OSU, OU and Tulsa each had, arguably, its best season ever. In fact, all three schools finished in the top 26. The only other states with more than two teams in the top 26 were North Carolina and California.
“Tulsa and Oklahoma both had their best teams in years and we were able to go 5-0 against them. Oral Roberts won their conference and was an NCAA team,” Wadley said. “It really is a compliment to our kids. Both OU and Tulsa were ranked in the 18-26 range most of the season. It was a great year for college tennis in this state.”
The season came to an end against No. 9 UCLA in the round of 16. The Cowboys finished the season 19-5 and ranked No. 11 in the country. Individually, Nedovyesov finished ranked No. 23 and Puchkarov came in at No. 29.
The consistency of his young squad throughout the season stood out in Wadley's mind.
“They played as close as they could to their level most of the time. We did not have any big letdowns from individuals or the team,” Wadley said. “Normally, when we got beat, the team was better than us on that given day. That is a compliment to the kids. This year we made steady progress all year and for a young team, that is good.”
And the Pokes did it against a tough schedule.
“Pretty much every team we played this season was ranked. We did not really play any bad teams. We had to compete every time out and I think that kept us sharp,” Wadley said. “You are going to have some losses. Everybody cannot play at the top of their game all the time. These guys, for the most part, rose to the occasion most of the year. We had two freshman in the lineup and three new doubles teams, in a way in was a rebuilding year but we were pretty strong.”
The Cowboys had an outstanding season as evident by a plethora of individual honors.
James Wadley was named the Central Region's Coach of the Year for the ninth time in his career. He was also recognized by his peers, for the first time in his career, as they co-Big 12 Coach of the Year.
Nedovyesov proved through out the season he was one of the best freshman in the country. The Ukraine native played every match at No. 1 singles and led the team with 19 wins. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week a conference-best three times. He was also voted the Big 12's Freshman and Newcomer of the Year and was a unanimous All-Big 12 selection in both singles and doubles, with teammate Daniel Byrnes. Nedovyesov was especially outstanding in conference play where he was the co-Big 12 Champion at No. 1 singles. The Central Region also named Nedovyesov its' Rookie of the Year and Player to Watch.
Puchkarov was also a unanimous All-Big 12 selection and was the co-Big 12 Champion at No. 2 singles. He teamed with Petrov to win the Big 12 title at No. 3 singles. and the duo was also named All-Big 12 by the Waco Tribune.
Senior Artie Burmistrau completed his eligibility in stellar fashion as he was the co-Big 12 Champion at No. 5 singles. Burmistrau also worked hard off the court as evident by his selection to the Academic All-Big 12 team. Fellow senior Jason Wright joined Burmistrau as an academic all-conference selection.
With the school-records, career milestones and individual awards, where do the 2007 Cowboys rank amongst the schools best?
“This team has to rank as one of the top two we have ever had. It may be the best we have ever had, as far as rankings it was,” Wadley said. “We have had some awfully good teams that finished pretty high. We have never had two player finish in the top 30. Winning individual Big 12 titles at No. 1 and 2 singles is pretty impressive. Ivan, at one point, was ranked No. 3 which is the highest we have had a player since Pavel Kudrnac. We had a lot of good things happen this year. It makes you excited about what could happen next season.”
In 2008, the Cowboys will return four letterwinners and three of their top four singles players. Nedovyesov and Puchkarov should both be ranked in the preseason top 20, giving Wadley high expectations for next season. The key will be finding two more solid players to fill in the holes.
“Petrov is not far behind Nedovyesov and Ivan. Nathan has made great strides both years he has been here, hopefully he makes another jump next year,” Wadley said. “We need to solidify doubles and find a really good player to team with Nedovyesov. We have to pull a rabbit out of our hat like we did last year and find two players who can immediately contribute. We have been fortunate enough the last two years to find impact players.”
Friday, June 05
Friday, May 29
Wednesday, May 27
Monday, May 18
