Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Face Texas Tech and Baylor on the Road
April 09, 2015 | Cowboy Tennis
The Basics
OSU's men's tennis team, ranked No. 25, will hit the road this weekend to Lubbock and Waco, Texas to take on conference opponents No. 23 Texas Tech and No. 2 Baylor. Friday's match against the Red Raiders will begin at 6 p.m. and Sunday's match against the Bears starts at 1 p.m.
Keep Up with the Matches
Fans can follow all the action this weekend through updates on Twitter by following @CowboyTennis. Live stats for Friday's match can be found on http://www.texastech.com/sports/m-tennis/text-m-tennis-body.html. And live stats for Sunday's match can be found on baylorbears.com/sports/m-tennis/livestats.
In the ITA Rankings
The Cowboys enter the weekend ranked No. 25 in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings. Texas Tech holds the No. 23 ranking and Baylor is No. 2 in the nation.
Three Cowboys are featured in the ITA singles rankings including Senior All-American Jakob Sude at No. 39, No. 98 Lucas Gerch and No. 118 Arjun Kadhe. The Red Raiders are represented by No. 35 Felipe Soares and No. 114 Jolan Cailleau. Baylor has four players in the poll including No. 1 Julian Lenz, No. 31 Tony Lupieri, No. 61 Maxime Tchhoutakian and No. 117 Mate Zsiga.
Kadhe and Sude enter the weekend cemented as the 26th-ranked doubles team in the nation. Tech has two ranked doubles teams including No. 33 Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares and No. 70 Connor Curry and Soares. The Bears are represented by No. 38 Tony Lupieri and Felipe Rios, No. 51 Mate Zsiga and Lupieri and No. 54 Julian Lenz and Diego Galeano.
Last Time Out
Oklahoma State faced No. 57 Wichita State last Tuesday at the Greenwood Tennis Center. The Cowboys took the hard fought doubles portion and didn't look back as they shutout the Shockers, 4-0.
No. 25 Oklahoma State 4, No. 57 Wichita State 0
April 7, 2015 :: Stillwater, Okla. (Greenwood Tennis Center)
Doubles | Order of finish: 1, 2
1. #26 Sude/ Kadhe (OKST) def. Cuic/Ostojic (WSU) 6-2
2. Gerch/ Ferrigno (OKST) def. Herzan/Devilliers (WSU) 6-4
3. Finzelberg/ Mendoza (OKST) vs. G. de Vilchez/S. de Vilchez (WSU) 4-5 unf
Singles | Order of finish: 4,3,5*
1. #39 Jakob Sude (OKST) vs. #40 Tin Ostojic (WSU) 1-6, 6-3, 0-3 unf
2. #98 Lucas Gerch (OKST) vs. Ilija Cuic (WSU) 5-7, 4-3 unf
3. #118 Arjun Kadhe (OKST) def. Guillermo de Vilchez (WSU) 6-4, 6-0
4. Lukas Finzelberg (OKST) def. Miroslav Herzan (WSU) 6-3, 6-1
5. Nicolai Ferrigno (OKST) def. Jocelyn Devilliers (WSU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
6. Jurence Mendoza (OKST) vs. Sergio de Vilchez (WSU) 6-4, 4-3 un
On A Roll
Sophomore Lucas Gerch has only given up two matches this spring in singles, boasting a 14-2 record. Gerch plays primarily at the No. 3 spot, but has notched wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. All but four 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.
Cowboys Home Wrap-Up
Oklahoma State completed its season at home with a 10-2 record. The mark not only gives the Cowboys back-to-back winning seasons at home, but also double-digits in the wins column. In 2014, Oklahoma State ended with an 11-4 record at the Greenwood Tennis Center. This season, the Cowboys improved their home win percentage from .733 to .833.
Scheduling Tough
The Cowboys have faced 12 ranked opponents within their last 14 matches. Against those opponents, Oklahoma State is 7-5. Most recently, the Cowboys took down No. 57 Wichita State, 4-0. The Cowboys also notched a win over No. 17 Tennessee earlier this season.
Cowboys vs. Opponents
Baylor has compiled a 6-24 series lead over the Cowboys. The Bears have won 11 of the last 12 meetings with the last Cowboy victory coming in the 2008 season.
Oklahoma State holds the series lead over Texas Tech, 18-13. The Cowboys made an improbable comeback in their last meeting at the Big 12 Championship. The comeback was led by Lucas Gerch, who trailed 5-0 in the third set and won seven consecutive games to give the Cowboys a 4-3 victory in 2014.
Big 12 Strongest in the Nation
The Big 12 conference is one of the most competitive men's tennis leagues in nation, with all six teams ranked in the top 25. Four teams sit in the top 10: Oklahoma (1), Baylor (2), Texas (9) and TCU (10). Texas Tech is ranked 23 and OSU rounds out the conference in the 25th spot.
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.
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 US 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
