Oklahoma State University Athletics
Kadhe, Sude Prepare for NCAA Doubles Championships
May 20, 2014 | Cowboy Tennis
May 20, 2014
STILLWATER, Okla. -
Oklahoma State men's tennis standouts Arjun Kadhe and Jakob Sude will head to Athens, Ga., on Thursday to begin play in the 2014 NCAA Doubles Championships at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
The 14th-ranked Cowboy tandem will take on Tulsa's Cliff Marsland and Dylan McCloskey (No. 27) in the first round. A victory would pit the OSU duo against the winner of the opening round match between eighth-seeded Wagland/Pieters (Georgia) and Notre Dame's Andrews/Lawson.
Start times for Thursday's matchups have yet to be determined, but will be posted on Twitter (@CowboyTennis) as soon as they are released. Fans also have access to live scoring and video throughout the entire competition.
Eyeing the Opposition
Kadhe and Sude will face Tulsa's Cliff Marsland and Dylan McCloskey (No. 27) in first round action on Thursday, marking Kadhe's second matchup against the Golden Hurricane duo in 2014. In the Cowboys' 4-3 loss at Tulsa in February, McCloskey/Marsland took down Kadhe and former doubles partner Brady Bohrnstedt, 8-5. McCloskey and Marsland accumulated a 15-9 dual match record and a 5-5 mark against ranked opponents, highlighted by wins over No. 8 Goodman/Patel (Drake), No. 17 MacMaster/Nguyen (Harvard) and No. 18 Chappell/Stein (TCU). A win would move the Cowboy tandem into a faceoff against either No. 8 Wagland/Pieters (Georgia) or No. 18 Andrews/Lawson (Notre Dame). A potential rematch against USC's top-ranked Hanfmann/Sarmiento is also possible in the quarterfinals.
OSU in the NCAA Doubles Championships – A History
2014 marks the first appearance for Oklahoma State at the NCAA Doubles Championships since 2010, when former Cowboys Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Daniel Byrnes matched their 2009 tournament run and reached the Round of 16. The only other Cowboy duo to reach the second round was Kirk Loomis and Mark Johnson, who advanced to the quarterfinals 1981 before falling to Houston's Odizor/Dowlen. Overall, Oklahoma State is 4-17 at the NCAA Doubles Championships and 3-11 in the competition's opening round.
2014 NCAA Team Championships Championships
With their recent selection in the 2014 NCAA Championships, the Cowboys ended a five-year drought at the competition, while advancing to the second round of the tournament for only the 11th time in school history. Oklahoma State took down Michigan in the opening round, but was unable to pull off an upset over top-ranked USC in the regional final. Despite falling short in the tournament, the Pokes's 22-8 record in dual play marked their best finish since compiling a 22-7 season in 2005.
Welcome to the Rankings
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 compiled a 10-10 singles record in 26 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 currently sits at No. 77 as of May 1.
Sebastian Sachs premiered at No. 88 in the April 22 polls after taking down #6 Axel Alvarez Llamas on April 20, marking the Cowboys' first win over a top-10 singles opponent in 2014. Arjun Kadhe also earned a position in the polls after overpowering #29 Diego Galeano in the Cowboys' semifinal matchup against Baylor. The freshman debuted at No. 116 on May 1, marking the first time three Cowboys have simultaneously held singles rankings since April 1, 2008.
In the ITA National Doubles Rankings, Arjun Kadhe and Jakob Sude premiered at the No. 21 spot on April 8 after racking up eight consecutive wins to open the 2014 season, and currently stand at No. 14. The duo boasts wins over #11 Chappell/Stein (TCU), #16 Hess-Olesen/Glasspool (Texas) and #23 Webb/Harris (OU), and became the highest-ranked Cowboy Tennis tandem since Rifat Biktyakov and Aleksey Bessonov sat at No. 13 in the March 15, 2011 rankings.
Conference Champions
Arjun Kadhe and Jakob Sude were awarded the Big 12 No. 1 Doubles title after racking up a 4-1 record against conference opponents in 2014. Kadhe and Sude were nearly perfect in dual match competition, as they took down five ranked opponents en route to a 12-2 overall record. The duo's conference position title is the first for the Cowboys since Chris Haworth earned the No. 3 singles honor in 2012.
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 accumulated a 44-26 mark in 30 matches of 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.
