Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Tennis to Begin Big 12 play
March 25, 2010 | Cowboy Tennis
March 25, 2010
The Basics
The No. 44 Oklahoma State men's tennis team travels to Texas this weekend to open Big 12 Conference play with a pair of dual matches against top-20 opponents. The Cowboys will take on No. 4 Texas Friday at 6 p.m. at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center in Austin, Texas, and No. 17 Texas A&M Sunday at 1 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.
About the Cowboys
The Cowboys are 6-6 (0-0) on the year. OSU has faced six consecutive ranked opponents, with this weekend marking the seventh and eighth straight. In those six matches, Oklahoma State has gone 3-3, recording wins over No. 41 Hawai'i, No. 56 UNLV and No. 44 Penn State. The Cowboys have also defeated Memphis, Sacramento State and Western Michigan in 2010. OSU returns 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
Texas, 16-2 (0-0), enters the match on a three-match winning streak and has beaten six ITA top-25 opponents this year, including then-No. 1 USC, No. 11 California, No. 12 Stanford, No. 19 Florida State, No. 25 Michigan and No. 24 Pepperdine. The Longhorns, ranked No. 4 in the ITA team rankings, also have several athletes in the singles and doubles rankings. In the singles poll, Dimitar Kutrovsky is No. 7, Ed Corrie is No. 12, Kellen Damico is No. 69 and Josh Zavala is No. 78. The Longhorns have four doubles teams in the rankings, including No. 4 Kutrovsky and Zavala, No 13 Corrie and Damico, No. 36 Alex Hilliard and Daniel Whitehead and No. 59 Jean Andersen and Whitehead. Texas owns an 18-3 all-time series advantage over OSU, with the Longhorns winning the last match, 5-2, in 2009.
Texas A&M, which faces Oklahoma Friday night, enters the weekend at 11-4 (0-0) and on a four-match winning streak. The Aggies are ranked No. 17 in the ITA team rankings and hold a pair of spots in each the ITA singles and double rankings. Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo are the No. 21 and 30 singles players, respectively, while they combine to form the No. 9 doubles tandem. Alexey Grigorov and Marcus Lunt are also the No. 28 doubles team. Texas A&M holds a 10-17 all-time series advantage over Oklahoma State, with the Aggies winning the last match, 4-1, in the second round of the ITA Men's Tennis Kickoff Weekend earlier this season. Prior to that match, OSU had won six straight in the series.
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 10-2 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. Since then, the Cowboys have been ranked in every ITA poll in 2010. OSU holds the No. 44 spot in the latest edition of the rankings (March 23), jumping up 10 spots from the previous poll. In addition to the team ranking, Oleksandr Nedovyesov is ranked in the ITA singles rankings at No. 19, while he and Aleksey Bessonov are the 12th-ranked doubles team.
Up Next
After the Cowboys take on the Aggies Sunday, they return to Stillwater for an April 1 matchup against UCF at 2 p.m.
