Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Tennis Hits The Road To Compete In ITA Kickoff In Tennessee
January 24, 2020 | Cowboy Tennis
Logistics
No. 14 Oklahoma State (3-0, 0-0 Big 12)
vs.
No. 18 Columbia (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League)
Date/Time: Jan. 25, 2020/11 a.m.
Location: Knoxville, Tenn.
Men's ITA Kickoff Consolation Match
Teams TBD
Date/Time: Jan. 26, 2020/10 a.m.
Location: Knoxville, Tenn.
Men's ITA Kickoff Championship Match
Teams TBD
Date/Time: Jan. 26, 2020/1 p.m.
Location: Knoxville, Tenn.
The Basics
-Â The No. 14 Oklahoma State Cowboys are travelling to Knoxville, Tenn. to compete against some of the top teams in the country at the ITA Kickoff.
- The Cowboys are 3-0 after sweeping Lamar and Bryant in a doubleheader last weekend in the Greenwood Tennis Center. OSU started its season with a sweep of San Diego State on the road.
- The Cowboys jumped one spot in the latest ITA rankings to put themselves at No. 14 in the country. This makes them the highest-ranked team in the Knoxville bracket of the tournament. Tennessee is ranked No. 16, while Columbia and Arizona State come in at 18 and 25 respectively.
- The Cowboys had a successful fall season starting with a win at the Silverado Invitational in Napa, Calif. in September. Mathieu Scaglia, Emile Hudd, Luke Hammond and Brady Draheim represented OSU in the tournament.Â
- The dynamic duo of No. 1 Matej Vocel and Dominik Kellovsky collected its first tournament win of the fall at the Arkansas Futures event in September. The most impressive win of the fall came when Vocel and Kellovsky defeated John McNally and Robert Cash of Ohio State in the finals of the 2019 ITA National Fall Championships, which earned them their No. 1 spot in the ITA rankings.
Las Time Out
- The Cowboys' home opener resulted in two wins over Lamar and Bryant. Oklahoma State defeated both opponents without dropping a single team point.
- No. 1 Dominik Kellovsky and Matej Vocel defeated Nicolas May and Carlos Paton Canal of Lamar, 6-3. Emile Hudd and Luke Hammond clinched the doubles point for the Cowboys by defeating Blessing Benibo and Joshua Sundaram.
- All six singles matches were played out with wins coming from No. 41 Vocel, Brady Draheim, No. 87 Emile Hudd, No. 91 Kellovsky, Hammond and the newest Cowboy, Oscar Moraing.
- Against Bryant, Draheim and Moraing paired up to take down Andrew Corrado and Phillip Belmatch, 6-0. The doubles point was won by Maxim Tybar and Mathieu Scaglia defeating Alexander Schou and Guido Argentini, 6-3.
- All six singles matches were played out once again against Bryant, with wins coming from Draheim, Kellovsky, Scaglia, Tybar, Hudd and Hammond.
- The Cowboys have won all three matches they have played this season without dropping a single team point.Â
A Look at No. 18 Columbia
- OSU has never faced Columbia. This weekend will be the first matchup between the two schools.
- Columbia last played in the MLK Invitational in Atlanta. There it won seven of its 11 doubles matches and 13 of its 22 singles matches played during the three-day event.
- Columbia is currently ranked No. 18 in the country with a top-three doubles team in Jackie Tang and Jack Lin, who are currently ranked No. 3 in the country. Lin is also the No. 6 ranked singles player in the country, while his partner Tang is ranked No. 73 in singles. Alex Kotzen is another ranked player for Columbia at No. 79.
A Look at No. 16 Tennessee
- If Oklahoma State and Tennessee meet at the ITA Kickoff in either the Consolation or Championship match, it would be the first time the two schools play each other.
- Tennessee is 5-0 to start the 2020 season. Its wins have come against Abilene Christian, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and the Citadel. The Volunteers have swept four of those five opponents but had a hard-fought match against Oklahoma and won, 4-3.
- Tennessee has two ranked singles players. Adam Wolton is No. 23 in the nation, while Finn Stodder comes in at No. 112.Â
- The Volunteers also claim two ranked doubles teams. Scott Jones and Luca Wiedenmann are ranked No. 49 in the nation. Jones is ranked again in doubles, but this time with Jordan Chrysostom at No. 59.
A Look at No. 25 Arizona State
- Arizona State and Oklahoma State have only met twice, and OSU is undefeated in those matchups, including its 4-3 win in the 2019 season.
- ASU is 1-1 to start the 2020 season. The Sun Devils defeated Grand Canyon on Jan. 16 in its first match of the season, 4-0. Their loss came in an early test for the team against No. 8 TCU, 5-2.
- The Sun Devils have one doubles team and one individual ranked. Tim Ruehl and Andrea Bolla come in at No. 27 in the doubles rankings, while Baonoromandresy Rakotomalala comes in at No. 99 in singles.
Cowboy Quick Hits
- OSU has won at least 15 matches in six consecutive seasons under head coach Jay Udwadia, which includes 16 wins in the 2018-19 season. Four times during that stretch, OSU has hit the 20-win mark, winning 21 in 2014, 20 in 2016, 22 in 2017 and 20 in 2018.
- In the 2020 regular season alone, the Cowboys are set to face off against 11 of the top 25 teams in the country: Texas (1), Baylor (5) Wake Forest (7), TCU (8), Texas A&M (9), California (13),  Tennessee (16), Michigan (20), Oklahoma (22), San Diego (24) and Arizona State (25).
- The Cowboys logged their sixth-straight NCAA Championship appearance last season but fell in the second round to No. 11 UCLA.
- Head coach Jay Udwadia is second in OSU history in wins with 131. He trails just James Wadley, who has an unprecedented 662 total wins as head coach of the Cowboys. Udwadia also boasts a .653 winning percentage, which is good for fourth-best in OSU history.
- Head coach Jay Udwadia welcomes three new faces to the team this year in Dominik Kellovsky, Oscar Moraing and Etienne Donnet. The latter two were both added to the roster at the beginning of the spring semester.Â
Cowboys in the Rankings
- OSU is slated No. 14 in the lates 2020 ITA Division I men's rankings.
- Dominik Kellovsky and Matej Vocel are the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the country after winning the ITA Fall National Championships.
- Matej Vocel is the highest-ranked individual Cowboy at No. 41. His highest ranking last season was No. 34.Â
- Emile Hudd and Dominik Kellovsky are also ranked in singles at No. 87 and No. 91 respectively.Â
Match Updates
- For updates during matches, follow @CowboyTennis on Twitter and check okstate.com for post-match results and a recap from the days' action.
