Cowboy Tennis Set to Face Dartmouth and Hawaii

STILLWATER - Oklahoma State's men's tennis team continues its spring season as it hosts Dartmouth and hits the road to take on Hawaii. The Cowboys' matchup against foe Dartmouth will mark their fifth contest against the team in program history. OSU leads the series, 4-0.

OSU's trip across the Pacific will see the Cowboys match up against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors for the ninth time in program history. OSU leads the series, 6-1.

THE OKLAHOMA STATE LINEUP

Oklahoma State returns five veterans from last year's squad that hosted an 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 is a three-time 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 65 career doubles victories puts him tied for fourth 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. Live video streaming for home matches will be available on okstate.com/watchtennis.

OKLAHOMA STATE FROM A DISTANCE

Oklahoma State returns three seniors from a season that the Cowboys hosted 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 earned his 100th win as OSU's head coach Feb. 9 against Northwestern. Udwadia is joined by second-year assistant coach Marek Michalicka and first-year volunteer assistant coach Diego Carstens.

PAST ENCOUNTERS

Both Dartmouth and Hawaii are familiar foes for the Cowboys. This marks the fifth meeting between the Dartmouth Big Green and the Cowboys. OSU leads the series 4-0. The Cowboys defeated Dartmouth last in 2015, 4-2 and before that in 2014 where OSU swept Dartmouth, 4-0..

This is the ninth meeting between OSU and Hawaii. The Cowboys lead the series 6-2, with Hawaii's lone wins against OSU coming in 1978 and 2009. The Cowboys last defeated the The Rainbow Warriors in 2014, 6-1.

NOTABLE STREAKS AND TRENDS

-The Cowboys have been ranked in the top 25 of the ITA Rankings for 40 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.

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 53 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. After this weekend, the Cowboys will return to their home court March 28 to face Fresno State.

RECORD WATCH

-Julian Cash's 77 career doubles wins currently put him in fourth place on the Cowboys' all-time list and second on the Big 12 era list. Cash needs just three more wins this season to tie Cliff Price for second place on the program all-time list. The Brighton, England native also holds 50 career singles wins, which puts him in 10th place on the Big 12 era career singles list.

-With 49 career singles wins, Tristan Meraut is currently just one win 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 and the career singles list. He is one win out of 10th on the Big 12 era career singles wins with 49 wins. He holds the fourth spot in Big 12 era career doubles wins with 66.

-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 106 wins in his coaching career at Oklahoma State. He is now in second place for most wins as head coach at OSU.

-Mathieu Scaglia and Luke Hammond currently sit right outside the Big 12 era season singles wins list with 19 and 15 respectively. Scaglia needs three more wins to crack the top 10 and Hammond needs seven.

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 aslo 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

Two Cowboys found themselves in the ITA singles rankings including Julian Cash (No. 78), Artur Dubinski (No. 95)

Cash and his doubles partner, Luke Hammond earned a spot in the newly released rankings coming in at No. 30 after previously being ranked No. 38. The tandem boasts a 13-4 record on the season and after making it to the round of 16 at the 129th Annual Pacific Coast Doubles Men's Championship.

Cash and Maxim Tybar came in a No. 68 in doubles rankings. The tandem recorded a win at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships against Louisville's then ranked No. 6 Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and Parker Wynn.

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 100 wins during Udwadia's tenure marks the most in a four-year stretch since the Cowboys won 76 from 2005-08.

Of those 106 wins, 43 have come against ranked competition, including 16 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.

FULL NOTES

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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