Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Nebraska
No. 25 Cowboy Tennis Wins Season Opener
January 17, 2015 | Cowboy Tennis
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State's men's tennis team started the weekend with a win, taking out the Nebraska Huskers, 5-2, in their season opener at the Greenwood Tennis Center on Saturday.
“Whenever you get a win, you feel good about it,” head coach Jay Udwadia said. “I saw good things as well as some things that we can improve upon. Overall, it was a great team win over a Big Ten opponent. The first match is always tricky coming out of the gates and some guys might be a little nervous, but I thought everyone competed well today.”
The Cowboys took the lead quickly as Lukas Finzelberg and Nicolai Ferrigno shut out Nebraska's Herrmann and Hobgarski, 6-0. The 12th-ranked duo of Jakob Sude and Arjun Kadhe avenged a fall season loss against the No. 54 team of Dusty Boyer and Bradford Zitsch, 6-2, to clinch the doubles point.
In singles, the Cowboys won four of their six matches to propel them to a win.
The first to finish was No. 98 Jakob Sude, who defeated Boyer at the No. 1 spot, 6-1, 6-3. Shortly after, sophomore Lucas Gerch grabbed a 6-2, 6-3 win from Marc Herrmann to give the Cowboys a 3-0 lead.
Leonard Gerch, a newcomer this spring, fell in his first match at the Greenwood Tennis Center, dropping a 6-4, 6-1 match to Vasileios Stavropoulos on court six.
Freshman Tristan Meraut made his debut in black and orange uniform, winning a 6-4, 6-4 thriller on court four to secure the team win for the Cowboys
On court three, redshirt freshman Finzelberg kept the momentum going for the Pokes as he battled back from being down early in the first set to win it 7-6. He took a lead in the second but Dzulynsky did not go down easy, forcing the second set to another tiebreaker. It was Finzelberg who came out victorious, winning 7-6, 6-5.
On court 6, senior Nicolai Ferrigno lost the first set to Hobgarski but stormed back to win the second set, 6-5. The two were neck and neck in the third set tiebreaker, but it was the Husker who walked away with the win.
The Cowboys will be back in action on Jan. 18 as they host Illinois State at 12 p.m. at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
No. 25 Oklahoma State 5, Nebraska 2
Jan. 17, 2015 :: Greenwood Tennis Center :: 1:30 p.m.
Doubles | Order of finish: 3, 1
No. 1 – No. 12 Sude/Kadhe (OSU) def. No. 54 Boyer/Zitsch (NEB), 6-2
No. 2 – Lu. Gerch/Meraut (OSU) vs. Erhart/Elsass (NEB), 2-5 dnf
No. 3 – Finzelberg/Ferrigno (OSU) def. Herrmann/Hobgarski, 6-0
Singles | Order of finish: 1, 2, 6, 4*, 3, 5
No. 1 – No. 98 Jakob Sude (OSU) def. Dusty Boyer (NEB), 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 – Lucas Gerch (OSU) def. Marc Herrmann (NEB), 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 – Lukas Finzelberg (OSU) def. Andrew Dzulynsky (NEB), 7-6(2), 6-5(6)
No. 4 – Tristan Meraut (OSU) def. Linus Erhart (NEB), 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 – Chris Hobgarski (NEB) def. Nicolai Ferrigno (OSU), 6-3, 5-6(6), 1-0(10)
No. 6 – Vasileios Stavropoulos (NEB) def. Leonard Gerch (OSU), 6-4, 6-1
