Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
University of Kentucky
Cowboys Set to Host ITA Kickoff Weekend
January 24, 2018 | Cowboy Tennis
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The Basics
Oklahoma State's men's tennis team continues its spring slate hosting Kentucky, Mississippi State and Wisconsin at the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center on Saturday at 9 a.m. and noon, and Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Saturday's dual marks the second consecutive time that the Cowboys have hosted ITA Kickoff Weekend. OSU enters the weekend as the No. 1 seed and is slated to face No. 4 seed Kentucky on Saturday at noon. This is the fourth meeting between the teams and OSU trails the series against the Wildcats 1-3. OSU will face either Mississippi State or Wisconsin contingent upon the outcome of the first matches.
The Oklahoma State Lineup
Oklahoma State returns five veterans from last year's squad that hosted a NCAA Regional for the second-straight year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row.
Included in that group of returners is the All-American Julian Cash. Cash's doubles success made him the fifth Cowboy in program history to earn multiple All-America honors. Along with his triumph in doubles, Cash also made history last season in the singles rankings by becoming the first Cowboy to crack the top-20 of the singles rankings since Oleksandr Nedovyesov in 2010. He was also twice named Big 12 player of the week and an All-Big 12 selection in singles and doubles. Now entering his senior campaign, the Brighton, England native has the chance to stamp his name even further into the record books.
Also returning this season will be Jurence Mendoza, Tristan Meraut, Artur Dubinski, and Mathieu Scaglia. All four figure to play a key role in the OSU lineup this season, including Mendoza, whose 53 career doubles victories puts him in 10th place on OSU's all-time wins list.
The team boasts a quartet of newcomers including Brady Draehim, Luke Hammond, Lefty Theodorou and Maxim Tybar.
Match Updates
For updates during matches, follow @CowboyTennis on Twitter and then check okstate.com for post-match results and a recap from the day's action. Fans can also follow the match via live stream at okstate.com/watchtennis.
Oklahoma State From a Distance
Oklahoma State returns three seniors from a season that saw the Cowboys host an NCAA Regional for the second year in a row. All three returning seniors have seen the Cowboys earn a bid NCAA Tournament every year since they arrived on campus. The Cowboys racked up at least 20 dual wins for the third time under head coach Jay Udwadia, with 10 of those victories coming against ranked competition.
This year, Udwadia enters his sixth season in charge of the Cowboys and is likely to earn his 100th win as OSU's head coach in the spring season. Udwadia is joined by second-year assistant coach Marek Michalicka and first-year volunteer assistant coach Diego Carstens.
Previous Encounters
All of this weekend's foes are familiar for the Cowboys. The Pokes faced Kentucky last season where they swept the Wildcats, 4-0 during ITA Kickoff Weekend. This is the fourth meeting of the two teams and Kentucky leads the series 2-1.
The current era Cowboys have not recently faced Mississippi State. OSU has not faced the Bulldogs since 1980 and 1989. The series is currently split 1-1.
Wisconsin is also a past foe of OSU with their last meetings being in 1979 and 1984. OSU leads the Badgers in the series 2-0.
Notable Streaks and Trends
- The Cowboys have been ranked in the top 25 of the ITA Rankings for 34 consecutive weeks. The last time OSU was outside of the top 25 was the preseason of 2016.
- The Cowboys have won at least 15 matches in each of the last four seasons under head coach Jay Udwadia. Three times during that stretch OSU has hit the 20-win mark, winning 21 in 2014, 20 in 2016 and 22 in 2017.
- Oklahoma State has had a doubles tandem earn All-America honors in each of the past four seasons. The last two seasons it was Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe achieving the feat, while Kadhe and Jakob Sude recorded the first two during the 2014 and 2015 NCAA Tournaments. Cash is the fourth OSU player to ever be named an All-American on two occasions.
- Since 2014, the Cowboys have made four straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including advancing to the Round of 16 two seasons ago. That streak is the second-longest in program history, trailing only a seven-year streak from 2003-09 that saw the Cowboys reach the Round of 16 on three occasions.
- Oklahoma State has never lost to Wisconsin in program history.
- Freshman Luke Hammond has scored the first singles point for the Cowboys in every dual so far this season.
Home, Sweet Home
In the three seasons since it first opened, the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center has provided an incredible home-court advantage to the Cowboys. During that time OSU has won a staggering 48Â matches when playing in the confines of the Greenwood Tennis Center.
The Cowboys are slated to play 17 matches on their home courts this upcoming season. Eight out of first nine dual matches are scheduled to take part in Stillwater. The home lineup of matches also includes hosting No. 1 Wake Forest on Feb. 11, 2018.
Record Watch
- Julian Cash's 67 career doubles wins currently put him in fourth place on the Cowboys' all-time list. Cash needs just eight more wins this season to tie Oleksandr Nedovyesov for second place. The Brighton, England native also holds 44 career singles wins, which leaves him just five wins shy of cracking the top 10.
- With 47 career singles wins, Tristan Meraut is currently just two wins shy of a place on the all-time list. If the French international matches last season's 16 wins, he would conclude his OSU career in seventh place.
- Jurence Mendoza also holds a place on the program career doubles wins list at the ninth spot with 59 wins. He only needs one more win to move tie Aleksey Bessonov for eight place.
- Cash currently sits with a handful of Cowboy Tennis greats as the only players to earn multiple All-America honors. With his senior campaign set to begin, Cash looks to join Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Jakob Sude as the only three-time All-Americans this year.
- Coach Udwadia currently sits at 96 wins in his coaching career at Oklahoma State. He only needs nine more wins at OSU to tie Myron Roderick for second place.
Fall Recap
The Oklahoma State men's tennis team found great success during the fall season, starting with a first place finish at the Silverado Invitational at Napa Valley, Cali. The team won the team title by collecting 13 total wins throughout the weekend. The field included two teams that finished inside the top 50 of the 2016-2017 ITA Rankings. Mathieu Scaglia went undefeated in singles matches finishing up with the defeat of Dartmouth's Max Fliegner 6-2, 7-6. Freshman Maxim Tybar had a perfect singles record over the weekend with his final win coming over Dartmouth's Charlie Broom 7-6, 7-5. The Cowboys finished the tournament with a 3-3 record in doubles.
ITA pre-season rankings were released and the team captured two impressive spots. Julian Cash was ranked as the No. 18 singles player in the nation. Maxim Tybar was ranked the No. 10 Freshman/Newcomer. The preseason singles rankings also featured the new OSU doubles tandem of Cash and freshman Luke Hammond at No. 25 and senior Tristan Meraut at No. 112 in singles.
The team then traveled to Lafayette, La., where both of the Oklahoma State tennis team's doubles tandems found success in the quarterfinals at the John Breaux Cajun Tennis classic, but fell short in the semifinals. Maxim Tybar and Jurence Mendoza defeated the duo of Samardzic/Wagner of Louisiana State University, 6-2, earlier in the day but came up short against the No. 5 ranked Telles/Banzer tandem from the University of Texas, 6-2. Eleftherios Theodorou and Artur Dubinski gained early momentum with their victory over Csonka/Moreno of LSU, 6-2. However, in their next match against Kapshuck/Curry of Texas Tech, the OSU duo was forced to retire at 5-4 after Dubinski sustained an injury.
The Cowboys then competed in the ITA All-American tournament where Scaglia fought his way through pre-qualifying play to compete in the qualifying round alongside Mendoza, Meraut and Tybar. Scaglia was the lone Cowboy to advance to the second round qualifying but fell to Texas' Leo Telles. Cash also competed in the tournament beginning in the main draw but fell in the round of 16 to Tennessee Tech's Eduardo Mena.
Next up, the Cowboys traveled to Minneapolis Minn. to compete in the ITA Central Regional. Highlights of the tournament included Meraut advancing to the quarter finals in singles and Dubinski/Theodorou earning the runners-up title in doubles. Meraut and Cash traveled to Charlottesville, Va. to compete in the ATP Charlottesville Challenger qualifying rounds. Meraut fell in the first round and Cash in the second.
Cowboys in the ITA Rankings
The Oklahoma State Sophomore, Mathieu Scaglia was the only Cowboy to capture a spot in the latest ITA singles rankings coming in at No. 93 after boasting 10 singles wins in the fall. The duo of Julian Cash and Maxim Tybar came in at No. 30 in ITA's doubles rankings.
The Udwadia Effect
Since head coach Jay Udwadia took over the program in June of 2012, the Cowboys have seen a resurgence as they have begun to re-enter the national spotlight. OSU's 94 wins during Udwadia's tenure marks the most in a four-year stretch since the Cowboys won 76 from 2005-08.
Of those 94 wins, 41 have come against ranked competition, including 14 wins over top-25 foes, as the Cowboys have routinely faced the toughest the nation has to offer during Udwadia's five years at the helm. This season the Pokes will again face one of the nation's toughest schedules as their 2018 slate includes 16 teams that earned NCAA Tournament bids a season ago.
Thriving in the Classroom
Oklahoma State men's tennis has been a fixture of academic success dating back to the first Academic All-Big 12 team in 1997. In each of the past 21 seasons, OSU has had a representative on the Academic All-Big 12 team every year and has had multiple Cowboys earn the honor on 19 occasions.
Under head coach Jay Udwadia, the Cowboys boast an impressive total of 24 Academic All-Big 12 selections and 17 ITA Scholar-Athletes.
