Cowboys Ready For Challenge At Blue Gray Classic

Friday, February 26

Montgomery, AL

12:30 P.M.

Oklahoma State University

University of Alabama

February 25, 2016 | Cowboy Tennis

Notes vs. Blue Gray Classic

The Basics
The No. 9 Oklahoma State men's tennis squad heads to Montgomery, Alabama, this weekend looking to extend their five-game winning streak at the Blue Gray Classic. This is the 67th year of the historic tournament and it will be OSU's first time back at the tournament since 2010. Oklahoma State will be one of five ranked teams at the Blue Gray Classic that includes No. 14 South Florida, No. 48 Auburn, No. 52 Princeton and No. 67 Boise State.

Follow the Match Live
Live scoring for this weekend's matches at the Blue Gray Classic can be found at bluegraytennis.com/scores. Also, for live updates on each match make sure to follow the OSU men's tennis Twitter page (@CowboyTennis).

In the ITA Rankings
The Cowboys jumped six spots to No. 9 in the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings after a thrilling victory over Georgia State on Friday. Receiving the No. 9 ranking makes the 2015 Oklahoma State men's tennis squad the second highest ranked-team ever in Cowboy Tennis history. The Pokes continue to rise in the polls as they have leaped forward in the rankings four-consecutive weeks and have appeared in the top-30 since the start of the season.
Four Cowboys find themselves in the singles rankings with the All-American Julian Cash leading the way at No. 75. Jurence Mendoza and Arjun Kadhe moved up two spots to No. 91 and No. 111 in the rankings, while Cowboy Temur Ismailov makes his ITA singles rankings debut at No. 115.
In the doubles rankings, All-American Cowboy duo Kadhe/Cash are the only OSU duo in the latest rankings at No. 15, which puts them at seven-straight weeks inside the top-15.

Coach Udwadia Records 200th Career Victory
Oklahoma State's victory against No. 32 Harvard was a special one for Cowboy head coach Jay Udwadia as he collected his 200th career win. Udwadia becomes only the second coach in Cowboy history to record his 200th win with OSU, the only other coach was Cowboy legend James Wadley.
Cowgirl Tennis head coach Chris Young honored Udwadia last Friday in the Cowboys home match against Georgia State. Young presented a celebratory plaque to Udwadia during the intermission between doubles and singles play.
Entering OSU, Udwadia had 145 career wins with stops at Drake and Fresno State where he turned both programs into yearly conference title contenders. At Fresno State, Udwadia reached the conference finals six of his eight years and won the title in 2011 and 2012.
The New York-native is also only the second coach in Cowboy Tennis history to collect more than 50 wins in his first three seasons, as he won 51 games before entering this season.
After back-to-back NCAA Second Round appearances, the future looks bright for coach Udwadia and the Oklahoma State men's tennis program.

Cowboys vs. Opponents
The Cowboys will face Alabama in the first round of the draw and will look to extend their win streak to four against the Crimson Tide as the Pokes currently lead the series 3-1. In the last meeting between the two, Oklahoma State dominated the Crimson Tide at home with a 4-1 victory at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
Oklahoma State could face Princeton for only the second time in Cowboy Tennis history as the first meeting between the two was back in 1979, where the Tigers claimed an 8-1 win over the Cowboys.
If the Pokes face Auburn in the second round, they will look for their first victory in the series. The Tigers have won all five meetings between the two squads.

Finzelberg, Cash Earn Big 12 Player of the Week Honors
Oklahoma State's Lukas Finzelberg and Julian Cash earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks for the Cowboys, which marks the first time in Cowboy Tennis history that two OSU players have won the weekly honor in consecutive weeks.
With Cash being the first one to receive the honor this year, he was the first Cowboy to be named Big 12 Player of the Week since 2010.

Cowboys Stepping Up to the Challenge
Since playing unranked UNLV and Creighton, the Cowboys have defeated six of the seven ranked opponents they have faced, including No. 5 Wake Forest and No. 25 NC State.
The six victories haven't even been close either, as Oklahoma State outscored their opponents 33-9. All-American's Arjun Kadhe and Julian Cash have helped lead the Cowboys to their hot start with four combined victories over ranked singles opponents and two doubles wins over ranked duos.
Poke Lukas Finzeberg has also been a big part of the success so far, as he sits at 7-0 this spring and has clinched three matches (Wake Forest, Minnesota and Arkansas).
Look for coach Udwadia and the Cowboys to continue their success against ranked-opponents.

Former Cowboy Becomes Assistant Coach
Three-time All-American Jakob Sude was named an Undergraduate Student Assistant Coach by coach Jay Udwadia this season. After finishing his final year of eligibility last season, Sude looks to use the experience he gained while playing tennis at OSU to coach his former teammates.
As a Cowboy, the All-American was the consistent No. 1 for the Pokes, as he helped lead the Pokes to 39 victories over the past two seasons. In 2015, he won 14 singles matches, including a victory against the No. 1 player in the ITA Rankings, Soren Hess-Olsen, of Texas, 6-4, 6-2. Sude was also the first Cowboy since 2010 to earn All-American status in singles play, as the Cowboy made it all the way to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championships.

Big 12 Strongest in the Nation
The Big 12 conference remains to be the most talented conference in the nation with all six teams inside the top-35.
Highlighting the conference is Texas Tech at No. 6, TCU at No. 8, Oklahoma State at No. 9 and Oklahoma at No. 10, which gives the Big 12 four teams in the top-10.
Rounding out the rest of the Big 12 is Texas and Baylor at No. 26 and No. 34. The Big 12 is the only conference in the country with four teams in the top-10 and one of five conferences with four teams in the top-25. The ACC, SEC, Pac-12 and Big Ten also have four teams in the top-25.

Kadhe Seeks Third-Straight All-American Honor
Last season, Kadhe and his former doubles partner Jakob Sude were the first Cowboy doubles team in Oklahoma State history to earn back-to-back All-American honors.
Kadhe looks to become only the third Cowboy in Oklahoma State history to earn three All-American honors. The two Cowboys to have three All-American honors are Oleksandr Nedovyesov (2008-2010) and Sude (2014-15).
He will have a good chance at completing the task, as Kadhe and his new doubles partner Julian Cash have already developed a great connection on the court together by winning the back draw at the ITA All-American Championship and earning the third-highest doubles ranking in Cowboy Tennis history at No. 5 just last week.

Cowboys Home Court Advantage
Since being opened in 2014, the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center has been a tremendous home court advantage for Oklahoma State men's tennis.
In the past two seasons, the Cowboys have won 21 of their 27 home matches, including five wins over teams ranked in the ITA top-60 in 2015.
To start the this season, the Cowboys have defended their home turf well as they are currently 6-0 at the Greenwood Tennis Center with wins over three-ranked teams, including No. 5 Wake Forest and No. 25 NC State.

Follow Cowboy Tennis
Stay up to date with the Oklahoma State men's tennis team on the following social media sites:
   Twitter: @CowboyTennis
   Instagram: @CowboyTennis
   Facebook: Oklahoma State Cowboy Tennis
   Snapchat: OSUathletics
   YouTube: youtube.com/osuathletics