Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Memphis
Cowboy Tennis Falls To Memphis in Opener
January 22, 2011 | Cowboy Tennis
Jan. 22, 2011
TULSA, Okla. – The No. 47 Oklahoma State men's tennis team opened the 2011 season Saturday at Tulsa's Case Tennis Center, where the Cowboys fell to the Memphis Tigers, 5-2, after several close sets throughout the match.
The dual season wasted no time providing excitement, as the first doubles point of the year came down to a last-match tiebreaker.
The Cowboys fell behind early as Memphis earned an 8-5 win at the No. 3 spot in the first match finished.
No. 1 doubles was the next match completed as OSU's Aleksey Bessonov and Rifat Biktyakov proved they were worthy of their No. 9 national ranking by storming back from an early 5-2 deficit to claim an 8-6 win over Memphis' 52nd-ranked tandem of Joe Salisbury and David O'Hare.
In the last doubles match remaining, OSU's Vlad Bondarenko and Maniel Bains trailed Memphis' Jordan Smith and David Henry, 5-6. The Cowboys fought back to take the team point-deciding match into a tiebreaker, but fell just short in their comeback attempt and dropped the match, 9-8(8), to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead entering singles play.
OSU fell behind 2-0 when freshman Tomas Patiño lost his first collegiate match at No. 6 singles, but Biktyakov followed to give the Cowboys their first team point and his first collegiate dual win with a straight-set victory over David O'Hare.
Losses at Nos. 1, 2 and 4 singles sealed the dual result for the Cowboys, but sophomore Ilija Martinoski rallied for a three-set win in a tiebreaker to make the final score 5-2 in favor of the Tigers.
In a dual that featured six matches with tiebreakers, four athletes made their dual debuts for Oklahoma State including Bains, Bondarenko, Biktyakov and Patiño. The Cowboys move to 0-1 and now turn their attention to Jan. 29, when they travel to Athens, Ga., to face the Georgia Bulldogs.
Memphis 5, No. 47 OSU 2
Jan. 22, 2011 | Case Tennis Center | Tulsa, Okla.
DOUBLES | Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
No. 1 – #9 Aleksey Bessonov/Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. #52 David O'Hare/Joe Salisbury (Memphis), 8-6
No. 2 – Jordan Smith/David Henry (Memphis) def. Vlad Bondarenko/Maniel Bains (OSU), 9-8(8)
No. 3 – Leon Nasemann/John Taylor (Memphis) def. Ilija Martinoski/Tomas Patiño (OSU), 8-5
SINGLES | Order of finish: 6, 3, 1, 2*, 4, 5
No. 1 – David Henry (Memphis ) def. Maniel Bains (OSU), 6-4, 7-6(7)
No. 2 – Joe Salisbury (Memphis) def. Vlad Bondarenko (OSU), 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2
No. 3 – Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. David O'Hare (Memphis), 7-6(4), 6-4
No. 4 – Leon Nasemann (Memphis) def. Aleksey Bessonov (OSU), 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-5
No. 5 – Ilija Martinoski (OSU) def. Johnny Grimal (Memphis), 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5)
No. 6 – John Taylor (Memphis) def. Tomas Patiño (OSU), 7-5, 6-2
Players Mentioned
