Cowboy Netters Earn NCAA Tournament Bid

STILLWATER, Okla. Â– Oklahoma State's men's tennis team earned an at-large bid to the 2008 NCAA Tournament, the NCAA announced on Tuesday. Oklahoma State will square off against Denver in opening round action at Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The winner of that will then face the winner of host school and No. 11-seed Tulsa and Binghamton. While the official time and date have yet to be determined, the first and second rounds will take place Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday, May 9-10 or 10-11.

This is the sixth-straight NCAA Tournament selection for the Cowboys and their 16^th appearance overall. Oklahoma State has made eight Sweet 16 appearances in that span. In the 2007 tournament, the Pokes defeated Sacramento State and Oklahoma in the first two rounds before falling to UCLA in the round of 16.

The Cowboys are ranked 20^th in the newest ITA poll and are led by the third-ranked player in the individual poll, Oleksandr Nedovyesov. The sophomore from Alushta, Ukraine, is also in the top-20 in the doubles poll as he and teammate Nathan Byrnes are currently ranked 18^th. Nedovyesov was named Big 12 Player of the Year on Monday as he took home the conference title at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. Also in the rankings, Cowboy senior Ivan Puchkarov is ranked 71^st.

According to the NCAA, first- and second-round competition will be conducted Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday, May 9-10 or 10-11, with the winner of each site advancing to the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, hosted by the University of Tulsa. The team championship will be held May 16-20.

The teams will play a single-elimination tournament at 16 first- and second-round sites (four teams at each site) and the finals site (16-team bracket) to determine the national champion. The matches shall be regulation dual matches with three (3) eight-game, pro-set doubles played for one team point, followed by six (6) singles matches, each valued at one team point, played best of three sets. Regular scoring will be used and a 12-point tiebreaker will be played at eight games all in doubles and at six games all in singles.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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