Cowboys' Win Streak Comes To An End Against No. 15 Middle Tennessee

Sunday, March 6

Stillwater, Okla.

1 P.M.

Oklahoma State University

Middle Tennessee

Cowboys' Win Streak Comes To An End Against No. 15 Middle Tennessee

March 06, 2022 | Cowboy Tennis

Stillwater, Okla - Oklahoma State's men's tennis team saw its five-match winning streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon with its 6-1 loss to No. 15 Middle Tennessee inside the Greenwood Tennis Center

With the loss, the Cowboys dipped to 7-6 on the year.

The day began with battles across each of the doubles courts with courts two and three both extending to tiebreaks during the matchup.

Tyler Zink and Seb Nothhaft gave OSU the lead early in a top-25 takedown of No. 23 Francisco Rocha and Oskar Brostrom, 6-3. Max Verboven and Alex Garcia were back and forth with Pavel Motl and Stijn Slump of Middle Tennessee until the Blue Raiders prevailed, 7-6(5). The doubles point relied on the outcome of court three, Leighton Allen and Fran Pini pulled off a thriller and rallied in the tiebreak to clinch the doubles point, 7-6(6).

Notably, OSU collected its ninth consecutive doubles point of the season in the matchup.

The Cowboys fought hard throughout the lineup in singles action. Five of the six courts extended to a third set during the dual.

After the Cowboys claimed the doubles point, Leighton Allen was first off the courts in singles play. A battle between Allen and Oskar Brostrom fell the way of the Blue Raider, 6-3, 7-6(4).

Following that, Middle Tennessee registered the next two singles wins to extend to a 3-1 lead.

Fran Pini controlled his court the entirety of his opening set to Pavel Motl, 6-2. Middle Tennessee's Motl answered back to collect a straight-set victory, 6-0, 6-4, over the freshman. The loss marked Pini's first singles loss of the season.

Seb Nothhaft took the court against Chris Edge. Although dropping the opening set in a hard-fought tiebreak, 7-6(2), the Cowboy bounced back to only drop a single game in his second set, 6-1. Knotted throughout the third, the court ultimately went in Middle Tennessee's favor, 7-5.

Oklahoma State still had opportunities in all remaining matches to tally a point.

Max Verboven and Stephan Hollis were knotted the majority of the match on court four. Eventually, Hollis bested Verboven to clinch the match for Middle Tennessee, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Although the match was decided, the remaining courts played out.

Tyler Zink controlled court one for the majority of the match. No. 80 Stijn Slump was able to down Zink, 6-3, in the opening set. Zink prevailed in the second to tally four-straight game wins and only allow two games to Slump, 6-2. Slump was able to regain momentum to claim the third set, 6-4.

Court three was last to finish, where Alex Garcia battled No. 115 Francisco Rocha. Although Rocha bested Garcia in a competitive first set, 7-5, the Cowboys regained momentum to impressively secure the second set, 6-3. Rocha closed out the third set to finish the match, 6-4.

Next up, the Cowboys are tasked with another road test at SMU Friday, March 11.

Singles Competition:

1. #80 Stijn Slump (MTSU) def. Tyler Zink (OSU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4

2. #115 Francisco Rocha (MTSU) def. Alex Garcia (OSU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
3. Chris Edge (MTSU) def. Seb Nothhaft (OSU) 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 7-5

4. Stepan Holis (MTSU) def. Max Verboven (OSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

5. Oskar Brostrom (MTSU) def. Leighton Allen (OSU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
6. Pavel Motl (MTSU) def. Fran Pini (OSU) 2-6, 6-0, 6-4

Doubles Competition:

1. Seb Nothhaft/Tyler Zink (OSU) def. #23 Francisco Rocha/Oskar Brostrom (MTSU) 6-3

2. Stijn Slump/Pavel Motl (MTSU) def. Alex Garcia/Max Verboven (OSU) 7-6 (7-5)

3. Leighton Allen/Fran Pini (OSU) def. Chris Edge/Stepan Holis (MTSU) 7-6 (8-6)

Match Notes:

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (5,6,3,4,1,2)