Cowboys Ready For Road Test Against Razorbacks

Notes vs. Arkansas

The Basics
The No. 17 Cowboys head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, this weekend for a showdown with No. 64 Arkansas at the Billingsley Tennis Center at 1 p.m. Coming off a clean sweep of three top-40 opponents at the Greenwood Tennis Center, the Pokes will look to get their sixth win over an ITA-ranked opponent this weekend in Fayetteville.

Follow the Match Live
Live stats for Sunday's match can be found on the men's tennis page at arkansasrazorbacks.com. Also, live updates will be available on the Oklahoma State men's tennis Twitter page (@CowboyTennis).

In the ITA Rankings
The Cowboys catapulted eight spots to No. 17 in the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings after a dominant showing this past week against No. 11 Wake Forest and No. 22 Minnesota. This is only the third time in the past seven years that Oklahoma State has been in the top-20. Arkansas moved up one spot to No. 64 in the rankings.
Three Pokes start the season with a spot in the singles rankings, as All-Americans Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe are No. 68 and No. 112. Junior Jurence Mendoza was ranked in singles for the first time in his Cowboy career at No. 85. No players from Arkansas are in the singles rankings.
The doubles rankings feature a trio Cowboy duos, highlighted by All-American duo Kadhe/Cash at No. 9. OSU tandems Lukas Finzelberg/Mendoza and Tristan Meraut/Nathan Roper round out the doubles rankings at No. 53 and No. 56. The Razorbacks do not have any doubles duos in the rankings.

Pokes Sweep Weekend Against Top-25 Foes
This past weekend the Cowboys took care of business at the Greenwood Tennis Center by defeating No. 11 Wake Forest on Friday (4-2) and No. 22 Minnesota (6-1) on Sunday.
The win against Minnesota marked the fourth-ranked opponent the Cowboys have beaten this season and the victory against Wake Forest marked their first victory over a top-15 opponent since 2014, when the Pokes beat No. 7-ranked Tennessee at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

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.
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
Arkansas and Oklahoma State have a little history together with 30 matches played against one another and OSU head coach Jay Udwadia attending and playing college tennis at Arkansas.
The series is tied at 15 games, but the Pokes have won the past seven matches against the Razorbacks, including an impressive 5-2 win over then No. 56 Arkansas at the Greenwood Tennis Center back in 2015.

Finzelberg Earns Big 12 Player of the Week Honors
Oklahoma State's Lukas Finzelberg was named Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week on Wednesday. This was the first time Finzelberg received the weekly honor and is the second consecutive week a Cowboy received the honor, as Julian Cash won it last week.
Finzelberg went 3-0 on the week, leading the Cowboys to victories over No. 11 Wake Forest and No. 22 Minnesota. In the match against Wake Forest, the sophomore clinched the upset victory for OSU with a triumph over Christian Seraphim (6-4, 5-7, 6-4). It marked the first time since 2014 that the Pokes topped a top-15 opponent.

Cowboys Stepping Up to the Challenge
Since playing unranked UNLV and Creighton, the Cowboys have defeated five of the six-ranked opponents they have faced, including No. 11 Wake Forest and No. 22 Minnesota.
The five victories haven't even been close either, as Oklahoma State outscored their opponents 21-3.
All-Americans Arjun Kadhe and Julian Cash have also helped lead the Cowboys to their hot starts 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 5-0 this spring and has clinched two matches already this season.
Look for coach Udwadia and the Cowboys to continue their success against ranked-opponents this season.

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.
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 features some of the most talented players in the nation, with all six teams in the conference being ranked in the ITA top-30. TCU is the highest ranked team at No. 2, Baylor and Oklahoma follow them at No. 4 and 5. The Red Raiders sit at No. 14, Pokes at No. 17 and the Longhorns aren't too far behind at No. 26.
The only other conferences with as many teams in the ITA top-30 is the ACC and SEC with six teams as well. The Big Ten has five teams and Pac-12 feature four teams in the ITA top-30.

Straight Cash Homie!
All-American and Mississippi State-transfer Julian Cash has made his mark in his short time as a Cowboy. The sophomore finished the fall season with eight wins in singles and 11 wins in doubles with partner Arjun Kadhe.
At the ITA Central Regional, Cash became the first Cowboy since 2009 to advance to both the singles and doubles final. The All-American won five straight singles matches at the tournament before falling to No. 50 Alexandru Ghilea in the singles final.
In doubles, the All-American tandem featuring Cash/Kadhe was a force to be reckoned with in the fall, as they won the back draw title at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Cowboy duo defeated No. 5-ranked Christian Seraphim/Skander Mansouri of Wake Forest in the semifinals.
Cash was named the Big 12 Men's Tennis Player of the Week back in January. The English-native beat the No. 24-ranked player in the country at the ITA Kick-Off, hosted by TCU.

Kadhe Looks For Third-Straight All-American Season
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 only other 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 great chemistry together by winning the back draw at the ITA All-American Championship and finishing runner-up in the doubles main draw at the ITA Central Regional during the fall season.

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.
The Pokes will look to continue their home success this season as they host 13 matches this season, with eight of them coming against teams ranked in the top-50.

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

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Players Mentioned

Julian Cash

Lukas Finzelberg

Arjun Kadhe

Jurence Mendoza

Tristan Meraut

Nathan Roper

Jakob Sude

Oklahoma State University Athletics