Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Tennis Travels to Louisville
February 24, 2010 | Cowboy Tennis
Feb. 24, 2010
The Basics
The No. 38 Oklahoma State men's tennis team heads to Louisville, Ky., for a pair of matches this weekend, as the Cowboys take on Western Michigan at 2:30 p.m. Friday and No. 10 Louisville at 5 p.m. Saturday. Both matches will be played at Louisville's Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
About the Cowboys
The Cowboys are 2-3 on the year. They won their season-opening dual against Memphis, 5-2, before dropping matches against Rice and Texas A&M at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in College Station, Texas. In their next match against Sacramento State, the Cowboys won 4-3 with the help of a last-match, dual-deciding victory from defending ITA National Player of the Year Oleksandr Nedovyesov at No. 1 singles. Oklahoma State then lost a non-conference dual against Oklahoma, 4-3, ending a 20 match Bedlam win streak that lasted 15 years. The Cowboys return three letterwinners from last year's squad, which finished with a 14-8 record and reached the NCAA Tournament for a school-record seventh consecutive season.
About the Opponents
Western Michigan is 7-3 in 2010. The Broncos started the year 7-0, but enter Friday's match having lost three straight. WMU returns six letterwinners from a squad that won the 2009 MAC Championship. WMU has won four consecutive MAC championships and has participated in four consecutive NCAA tournaments. Friday's match will be the first meeting between the schools.
Louisville, ranked No. 10 in the ITA team rankings, enters the weekend with a 10-2 record. In addition to being ranked in the team top 10, Louisville has several athletes in the singles and doubles rankings. The Cardinals' Simon Childs is the No. 49 player and Austen Childs is the No. 60 player in the singles poll. The pair is also the 20th-ranked doubles team, while Austen Childs is also ranked No. 55 in doubles when paired with Chidi Gabriel. Oklahoma State is 1-0 all time against the Louisville, as the Cowboys won the first meeting in 2009, 4-2.
All About Oleksandr
Oklahoma State senior Oleksandr Nedovyesov has already left his mark as one of the best athletes in the history of the Cowboy tennis program. Nedovyesov was named the 2009 ITA Player of the Year and has been the No. 1-ranked singles player for much of his career. Nedovyesov holds a 4-1 record at No. 1 singles this year, while he finished the 2009 fall campaign with a 12-3 record, winning the ITA Central Regional Championships.
"He is the highest-ranked ATP player we have ever recruited,” coach James Wadley said. “He is an unbelievable talent. He has solid strokes in every area. As the defending player of the year, it will be difficult for him this season. Everyone is going to be gunning and going after him. He knows that, and he needs to rise to the challenge. He has risen to the challenge before, and he will again."
Cowboys in the Rankings
Oklahoma State finished the 2009 season ranked No. 25 in the final ITA team rankings, which is where it opened the 2010 season. In the sixth edition of the 2010 team rankings, the Cowboys rank No. 38. In addition to the high team ranking, Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Anton Bobytskyi are ranked in the ITA singles rankings at No. 10 and 65, respectively, while Nedovyesov and Aleksey Bessonov are the 18th-ranked doubles tandem in the ITA poll.
Up Next
After the Cowboys take on the Cardinals, they will travel to Las Vegas, Nev., to face Hawai'i March 10 and UNLV March 12.
