Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Tennis Travels to Arkansas and Tulsa
February 20, 2014 | Cowboy Tennis
Feb. 20, 2014
STILLWATER, Okla. -
The No. 25 Oklahoma State men's tennis team will continue its six-match road trip this weekend with matchups at No. 68 Arkansas on Saturday and 32nd-ranked Tulsa on Sunday.
OSU (9-0) last took down No. 61 Wichita State on Feb. 13, marking the sixth victory recorded by the Cowboys over currently-ranked opponents in 2014. The No. 25 spot held by OSU in this week's ITA Team Rankings is the highest for the team since 2010.
Saturday's match against the Razorbacks will kick off at 1 p.m. CT, while Sunday's match will hold its first serve at 2 p.m. CT. For more updates and information, follow @CowboyTennis on Twitter.
Eyeing the Opposition
The Arkansas Razorbacks (6-5) come into Saturday's matchup riding a two-match losing streak after falling to ranked foes Tulsa and Purdue in the team's previous two matches. Arkansas holds one win over a ranked opponent this season. The Cowboys caught a glimpse of the Hogs when Arkansas and Dartmouth played a neutral match in Stillwater earlier this season, with the Big Green pulling out a close 4-3 victory.
The Cowboys currently hold a five-match winning streak against the Razorbacks, but trail in the all-time series, 13-15. Saturday's match will be the first between the two squads since 2009.
In-state rival Tulsa has performed well against strong competition this season, as four of the team's five losses have come by one point, all to opponents ranked in the top 50. The Golden Hurricane hoist two ranked doubles squads and two ranked individuals (#20 McCloskey/Marsland, #47 Espejo/De Klerk, #74 Marsland, #106 De Klerk).
OSU owns a 40-12 advantage in the all-time series with Tulsa, but the Golden Hurricane has won each match over the past three seasons.
Welcome to the Rankings
After beginning the season unranked, the Cowboys jumped into the No. 51 spot of the ITA Rankings on Jan. 21, and currently sit at No. 25. It's the highest in-season rank for Cowboy Tennis since 2010 after sitting at No. 24 in the Jan. 26, 2010 rankings.
OSU joins the rest of its conference opponents in the national rankings, and will look to continue its strong play to surpass Big 12 foes Oklahoma (No. 5), Texas (No. 6) and Baylor (No. 7), while maintaining ground on No. 35 TCU and No. 55 Texas Tech.
Three members of the 2014 Cowboy Tennis squad were inserted into the ITA National Rankings on Feb. 11, marking the first time a Cowboy individual has been represented in the polls this season.
Junior Jakob Sude received the first individual ranking of his career, coming in at No. 70 in ITA's National Singles Rankings. Sude has compiled a 3-0 singles record in six appearances, highlighted by his straight sets victory over Tennessee's Mikelis Libietis, formerly the nation's 34th-ranked singles standout, as well as a strong performance in an unfinished match against No. 12 Danii Proskura.
Sude's ranking is the highest in singles since former Cowboy Vlad Bondarenko's No. 60 position on Jan. 3, 2012.
In the ITA National Doubles Rankings, undefeated Arjun Kadhe and Brady Bohrnstedt premiered at the No. 38 spot after racking up six consecutive wins to open the 2014 season. The duo also boasts a win over a highly-ranked opponent in Tennessee's 28th-ranked Fickey/Chaplin doubles squad, and becomes the highest-ranked Cowboy Tennis tandem since Rifat Biktyakov and Aleksey Bessonov finished the 2011 season at No. 27.
Conquering Consecutively
The Cowboys' current nine-match winning streak is the team's longest since an 11-match run from the 2007 Sweet Sixteen squad, and is the second-longest streak since the Cowboys joined the Big 12 in 1996. Oklahoma State' longest all-time single-season win streak came in 1987 when former head coach James Wadley led the Pokes to 16 consecutive victories.
Tenacious Ties
In do-or-die tiebreaker situations this year, the Cowboys have compiled a 16-5 advantage, signifying that the team has performed extremely well when under pressure. Jakob Sude is 4-0 in deciding singles set tiebreakers, and Lucas Gerch owns four tiebreaker victories as well.
Oklahoma State's clutch tiebreaker wins have been instrumental in the team's two biggest wins of the year, as the Pokes won four out of five tiebreakers against No. 6 Tennessee and went a perfect 6-0 in tiebreaker play in the team's sweep over No. 36 Alabama.
30 For 30
The Oklahoma State men's and women's tennis teams are both slotted in the top 30 in the latest ITA team rankings. Before the release of the rankings last week, the Cowboy and Cowgirl tennis teams had simultaneously appeared in the ITA top 30 only three times: 1985, 1986, and 2003.
Bring Out The Brooms
OSU has shutout four opponents in nine matches this season, the most in as many matches since the 2006 squad that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In 2014, the Cowboys have swept currently-ranked opponents Dartmouth and Alabama, as well as South Dakota State and Southern Illinois.
Doubles Domination
The 2013 Cowboy Tennis squad saw its doubles team compile a 37-14 dual record, marking a massive improvement for the team and helping OSU begin to develop a reputation as one of the nation's up-and-coming doubles powers.
That success has passed on into 2014, as the Cowboys' doubles squads remain an impressive 17-4 through nine matches in dual play. The team also provided strong performances in the fall despite pairing with new partners, as Oklahoma State sent two doubles teams to the quarterfinal round of ITA's Central Region Championships.
Shock And Awe
After defeating Georgia St. on Feb. 9, the Cowboys reached 8-0 for the first time in school history, setting a school record for the best start ever for Cowboy Tennis. The eight wins to begin the season surpassed the 1998 squad's six and the previous-high of seven from 1997.
Home Cooking
The 2014 season has not only seen the Cowboys jump out to one of their best starts in school history, as it has also helped OSU compile its longest home winning streak since a 12-match streak from 2006-08.
The Pokes are a perfect 6-0 at the Greenwood Tennis Center, and will look to increase that mark on March 7 when they welcome No. 20 Wake Forest to Stillwater, kicking off a five-match home stand.
Strength of Schedule
Coach Udwadia has given the Cowboys a challenging task for the spring by scheduling 16 ranked opponents, giving OSU the 33rd most difficult schedule in the country based on number of ranked opponents faced and quality of opponent.
The team's tough slate includes six matches against teams ranked in the top 25, as well as contests against top-10 opponents Baylor, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Seven of the Cowboys' ranked opponents will visit Stillwater, including three in the top ten. OSU is 5-0 against currently ranked opponents in 2014.
The Future Is Now
The Cowboys bring in the year with a bang by debuting the Greenwood Tennis Center, Oklahoma State's newest athletic facility that will give the tennis program its first new home in more than 30 years. The state-of-the-art complex houses six indoor courts and 12 future outdoor courts, as well as an electronic scoreboard and videoboard.
2014 will also mark the debut of new assistant coach Pepe Cabellero, who joins the Cowboys after serving two years as head coach of the Hong Kong Tennis Association. Caballero takes the team's position after former assistant Yevgen Bondarchuk held the spot for the last eight years.
Taking Their Talents to Stillwater
Head Coach Jay Udwadia's 2014 signing class brings five new members to the Cowboy Tennis squad and is highlighted by several international standouts, as well as last year's top high school player in Oklahoma.
- Sebastian Sachs (Ditzingen, Germany) - posted a 4-4 fall record that included a semifinal trip in the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational. Sachs has also made a name for himself on the international circuit by earning several ATP points and performing well against international competition.
- Arjun Kadhe (Pune, India) - has experience in each of the four Grand Slams at the junior level, including a quarterfinal doubles run at last year's French Open. He has also consistently held a No. 1 ranking in each of India's junior age groups.
- Lucas Gerch (Berlin, Germany) - combined with Vasili Caripi to reach the doubles quarterfinal at last fall's ITA Central Region Championships, finishing the season with a 6-1 doubles mark. Gerch also went 2-4 in singles play.
- Nathan Roper (Edmond, Okla.) - earned Oklahoma's Jim Thorpe Player of the Year award twice after winning three consecutive individual state champions at Edmond North HS. Roper was also named an Army National Reserve Scholar-Athlete, and led Edmond North to team state championships in each of his four varsity years.
- Nicolai Ferrigno (Hvidovre, Denmark) - joins the Cowboys after two successful years at Cameron University. Ferrigno compiled an impressive 22-2 singles mark last year at Cameron, and finished the season ranked No. 18 in ITA's Division II rankings.
