Cowboys Set To Host Iowa, Lamar

Notes vs. Iowa & Lamar

The Basics
The No. 5 Oklahoma State men's tennis team hosts No. 47 Iowa and Lamar this Sunday at the Greenwood Tennis Center. The Cowboys will take on the Hawkeyes at 10 a.m. and then faceoff with Lamar at 3 p.m.

This will be the second doubleheader of the season for the Pokes as they hosted one to start the season against Creighton and UNLV, where they claimed shutouts against both teams, 7-0.

Follow the Match Live
Live scoring will be available on the men's tennis page on okstate.com. For updates on each match, follow @CowboyTennis on Twitter.

In the ITA Rankings
For the first time in program history, Oklahoma State's men's tennis squad remained inside the top five for consecutive weeks in the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings, which were released on Tuesday.

The Cowboys stayed in the top five after a nail-biting win against No. 18 California on Thursday in La Jolla, California. With the victory, Oklahoma State has now defeated eight ranked opponents this season and beaten four top 25 teams.

Another round of singles and doubles rankings was released as well and Cowboy Julian Cash made a significant jump in the polls, spiking up 26 spots to No. 49 with his straight-set win over No. 7-ranked Andre Gorransson, 6-4, 6-2. Pokes Arjun Kadhe and Jurence Mendoza round out the singles rankings at No. 115 and No. 125.

In doubles, All-American duo Kadhe/Cash climbed six spots back into the top 10 at No. 9. The dynamic tandem has been inside the top 15 all season.

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 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 faceoff against Iowa for the first time in school history on Sunday. On the other hand, this will be the sixth meeting all-time between Lamar and OSU as the Cowboys have won all five matches. The last meeting between the Cardinals and Cowboys was in 2014, when the Pokes shutout Lamar 4-0 at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

In the ITA Rankings, Iowa's doubles team Jake Jacoby/ Lefteris Theodorou sit at No. 78. Neither team has any players ranked in singles.

Series History vs. Lamar
Overall series         Cowboys lead 5-0
First meeting (1965)      OSU won 4-3
Last meeting (2014) OSU won 4-0
Last OSU win         2014

Cash Earns Second Big 12 Player of the Week Honor
Oklahoma State's Julian Cash earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors for the second time this season, the league announced on Thursday.

The All-American is coming off an impressive upset win against the No. 7-ranked singles player in the nation and the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship, where Cash/Kadhe won seven matches in three day to take the title.

Cash previously received the weekly honor back in January and makes it the third time a Cowboy has been named Big 12 Player of the Week this season.

Last Time Out
The Cowboys extended their win streak to eight with a win against No. 18 California in La Jolla, California. After securing the doubles point, the Pokes looked primed to take care of the Golden Bears quickly as Julian Cash and Lukas Finzelberg won in straight-sets on courts one and six. Trailing 3-0, Cal would answer with three singles victories to knot the score back at three before Oklahoma State's Lucas Gerch won on court four to keep the winning streak alive for the Cowboys and defeat the Golden Bears, 4-3.

No. 5 Oklahoma State def. No. 18 California, 4-3

March 8, 2016 | La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club | La Jolla, California

Doubles | Order of Finish: 1, 3

C1: No. 15 Kadhe/Cash (OSU) def. Bergevi/Lakat (CAL), 6-3
C2: Ismailov/Gerch (OSU) vs. Goransson/Griffith (CAL), 4-3 unf.
C3: Mendoza/Finzelberg (OSU) def. Nishimura/Wikberg (CAL), 6-3

Singles | Order of Finish: 1, 6, 5, 3, 2, 4*

C1: No. 75 Julian Cash (OSU) def. No. 7 Andre Goransson (CAL), 6-4, 6-2
C2: No. 115 Temur Ismailov (OSU) vs. No. 47 Florian Lakat (CAL), 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
C3: No. 28 Billy Griffith (CAL) def. No. 109 Arjun Kahde (OSU), 7-5, 7-5
C4: Lucas Gerch (OSU) vs. No. 117 Filip Bergevi (CAL), 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-4
C5: No. 52 Oskar Wikberg (CAL) def. Tristan Meraut (OSU), 6-3, 6-4
C6: Lukas Finzelberg (OSU) def. J.T. Nishimura (CAL), 6-4, 6-3

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 continues to be the best tennis conference in the nation as three teams remain in the top 10 and all six teams stay inside the top 20.

TCU, OSU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma all stayed put in the latest rankings. Baylor and Texas both fell four spots in the polls, but still remain inside the top 20 at No. 18 and No. 19.

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.

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

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Julian Cash

Lukas Finzelberg

Lucas Gerch

Temur Ismailov

Arjun Kadhe

Jurence Mendoza

Tristan Meraut

Jakob Sude

Oklahoma State University Athletics