Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Tennis Plays Three in DFW
March 17, 2015 | Cowboy Tennis
The Basics
OSU's men's tennis team, ranked No. 31, will travel to Dallas, Texas, this week for three matches. The Cowboys will play a doubleheader on Tuesday, facing No. 34 SMU at 3:30 p.m. and Texas Pan-Am an hour and a half after the conclusion of the first match. On Sunday, OSU will play No. 46 Dartmouth at 11 a.m. in Fort Worth.
Keep Up with the Matches
Fans can follow all the action this weekend through updates on Twitter by following @CowboyTennis. Live stats for the SMU match can be found on smumustangs.com/mtennis.
In the ITA Rankings
The Cowboys enter the weekend ranked No. 31 in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. SMU holds a No. 34 ranking and Dartmouth is No. 46. Texas Pan-Am is not ranked.
Two OSU players remain in the ITA singles rankings with sophomore All-American Arjun Kadhe sitting at No. 122, and senior All-American Jakob Sude moving to No. 102. The Cowboys will see two ranked players this weekend in No. 80 Dovydas Sakinis of Dartmouth and No. 110 Nate Lemons of SMU.
Kadhe and Sude enter the weekend cemented as the 16th-ranked doubles team in the nation. Dartmouth's Sakinis pairs up with Chris Kipouras as the No. 27 doubles team.
Last Time Out
Oklahoma State went 2-0 last weekend, hosting No. 61 Memphis and No. 49 Pepperdine. The Pokes outlasted Mephis, 4-2, before shutting out Pepperdine two days later.
No. 32 Oklahoma State 4, No. 49 Pepperdine 0
March 15, 2015 :: Stillwater, Okla. :: Attendance - 73
Doubles | Order of finish: 1,2
1. #16 Sude/Kadhe (OKST) def. #79 Thakkar/Hadlich (PEP) 6-2
2. Gerch/Ferrigno (OKST) def. Hill/Iamachkine (PEP) 6-3
3. Meraut/Mendoza (OKST) vs. Pane/Marquard (PEP) 3-5, unfinished
Singles | Order of finish: 2, 5, 3*
1. #102 Jakob Sude (OKST) vs. Guilherme Hadlich (PEP) 3-6, 6-1, 1-2, unfinished
2. Lucas Gerch (OKST) def. Stefan Menichella (PEP) 6-4, 6-4
3. #122 Arjun Kadhe (OKST) def. Pedro Iamachkine (PEP) 6-3, 6-4
4. Tristan Meraut (OKST) vs. Rakshay Thakkar (PEP) 3-6, 6-5, unfinished
5. Nicolai Ferrigno (OKST) def. Lautaro Pane (PEP) 6-2, 6-4
6. Jurence Mendoza (OKST) vs. Luca Marquard (PEP) 2-6, 6-4, 1-1, unfinished
Gerch and Ferrigno Win Doubles Championship
For the first time in the 126-year history of the Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship, an Oklahoma State doubles team has won the tournament.
In the semifinals, the two Cowboys faced the Bacharach/McKelvie team of Davis. With a dominant 6-3, 6-1 win over the Davis duo, Ferrigno and Gerch advanced to the finals, where they met up with top-seeded Thibault Forget and Roberto Quiroz of USC. In the finals, the OSU tandem produced another straight-set victory, taking the championship title with a 6-3, 6-4 win.
They join names like Arthur Ashe, John McEnroe and Peter Fleming as Pacific Coast Champions.
On A Roll
Sophomore Lucas Gerch has only given up one match this spring in singles, boasting a 11-1 record. Gerch plays primarily at the No. 3 spot, but has notched wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. All but three of his wins came in straight sets.
Freshman Trent Botha is undefeated this spring, making two appearances at the No. 6 spot and one appearance on court five. Last weekend, he notched a straight-set upset win over No. 54 Andrew Watson of Memphis.
Nathan Roper, a sophomore for the Pokes, has competed in three matches, compiling a 1-0 record with two of his matches going unfinished.
Scheduling Tough
The Cowboys have faced nine ranked opponents within their last 11 matches. Against those opponents, Oklahoma State is 6-3. Most recently, the Cowboys took down No. 49 Pepperdine, 4-0. The Cowboys also notched a win over No. 17 Tennessee earlier this season.
Cowboys vs. Opponents
Oklahoma State holds series leads over SMU, Texas Pan-Am and Dartmouth. The Cowboys improved to 7-5 over SMU last season after they defeated the Mustangs, 4-2. They also continued their undefeated streak against Dartmouth last January, taking down the Big Green, 4-0. OSU leads the series 3-0. Against Texas Pan-Am, the Pokes hold a 4-3 record.
Former Cowboy Nedovyesov Earns Biggest Pro Win of Career
Oleksandr Nedovyesov, a former Cowboy Tennis star, defeated Italian Fabio Fognini in the Davis Cup to advance Kazakhstan to the quarterfinals.
Nedovyesov was trailing two sets to one, before storming back to defeat the World's No. 22 player in five sets. The former OSU standout is currently ranked No. 130 in the World.
Fall Review
Oklahoma State is coming off a fall season, where several Cowboys gained experience, playing all over the country. The Pokes had a strong showing as three players picked up at least one win at the ITA All-American Championship, which is considered the most prestigious tournament of fall.
Arjun Kadhe produced a runner-up finish at the Cajun Classic early in the fall and finished out his fall advancing to the round of 16 at the ITA Central Region Championships.
Nicolai Ferrigno also made his way to the round of 16 of the ITA Central Regional, notching a dominant straight-set win over Amar Saletovic (ORU).
All-American Jakob Sude competed in only two events this fall: ITA All-American Championship and ITA Central Region Championship.
The Team
Coach Jay Udwadia enters the 2015 spring season with a full roster of 10 Cowboys. He returns two All-Americans in senior Jakob Sude and sophomore Arjun Kadhe as well as the team's Most Valuable Player for the 2014 season, Lucas Gerch. Denmark native and senior Nicolai Ferrigno returns for his second and final season with the Cowboys, while youngsters Nathan Roper and Lukas Finzelberg round out the returners for the Pokes.
New to the lineup is Jurence Mendoza, who enters his second semester as a Cowboy. Joining the squad in January was Trent Botha of South Africa, Leonard Gerch of Germany and Tristan Meraut of France.
Feldman Joins the Coaching Staff
This summer, the Pokes welcomed Nate Feldman to the coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Feldman joins the Cowboys after spending the last three years at Norfolk State, where he coached both the men's and women's tennis squads.
Before taking over at Norfolk State, Feldman gained invaluable coaching experience as an assistant at multiple top-tier programs, including a role with the 2010 North Carolina women's team, which reached the NCAA Semifinals and spent four weeks as the nation's top-ranked team. He helped guide the Middle Tennessee State men's squad to a Sun Belt tournament title, earning him a nomination for the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Assistant Coach of the Year award.
Feldman also served as an ITF travel coach, which took him all over the United States and South America.
ITA Introduces New Dual Match Format
In December, the ITA Division I Operating Committee made changes to the dual match format so that it shortens the length of the match. Changes include:
-No-ad scoring in singles and doubles.
-Three doubles matches played, each match one set to 6, with a tie-break at 6-all.
-Followed (after a 5-minute intermission) by six singles matches, each match 2 out of 3 sets, with tie-breaks at 6-all.
-No warm-up with opponents (in doubles and in singles)
Follow Cowboy Tennis
Stay up to date with the Oklahoma State men's tennis team on the following social media sites:
Twitter: @CowboyTennis
Facebook: Oklahoma State Cowboy Tennis
Snapchat: OSUathletics
YouTube: youtube.com/osuathletics
