Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Alabama
Cowboy Tennis Tames No. 36 Alabama, 4-0
February 08, 2014 | Cowboy Tennis
Feb. 8, 2014
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -
The No. 29 Oklahoma State men's tennis team improved its undefeated 2014 campaign on Saturday with a 4-0 sweep over 36th-ranked Alabama at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
After racing out to a perfect six wins in six matches at home, OSU (7-0) shifted its home-court success to the road, as today's win in Tuscaloosa, Ala., came in the Cowboys' first match away from the Greenwood Center.
“I stressed to our guys that playing in an environment away from home would be different, and they handled it extremely well,” Head Coach Jay Udwadia said. “Alabama had some strong players and great fans, and I wanted our guys to experience that.”
The Pokes' fourth shutout of the year was sparked early on when Matt Campbell and Lucas Gerch earned the vital doubles point with a 14-12 tiebreaker win over Goodwin/Kenyon, Alabama's No. 3 doubles duo. The Cowboy doubles pair fought off four Alabama match points over the course of the entire tiebreaker and earned the clinching point by breaking Goodwin's serve.
“There were a couple of tough shots there at the end of the tiebreaker that we were able to execute on, and they played well with each other today,” Udwadia said. “Doubles started off slow, but we competed well all the way through singles. I'm happy with the way our guys came out and performed.”
The exhilarating finish to doubles play came after Arjun Kadhe and Brady Bohrnstedt delivered a tiebreaker victory of their own, giving the duo a team-leading fourth doubles win.
Jakob Sude and Sebastian Sachs were unable to convert at the No. 1 spot after nearly taking down the nation's top-ranked doubles tandem last week in Oklahoma State's win over No. 6 Tennessee. The German duo took a close 6-4 defeat from the Crimson Tide's Madregallejo/Proskura before the Cowboys grabbed the doubles point and a 1-0 advantage.
In singles play, Kadhe produced his team-leading fifth singles win by downing Nikko Madregallejo, 6-4, 6-3, at the No. 3 spot. Sachs, Gerch and Bohrnstedt also earned first set victories before Chris Haworth defeated Andrew Goodwin in straight sets on court six, giving OSU a sizeable 3-0 lead.
Alabama fought back to force a third set at Nos. 2 and 5, but Gerch's back-to-back tiebreaker winners at No. 4 gave the freshman a 6-5(4), 6-5(4) win and wrapped up the Cowboys' 4-0 sweep.
Sude and Sachs both held leads over Alabama's nationally-ranked No. 1 and 2 singles standouts before having their matches end unfinished, with Sude holding a 3-6, 6-5(2), 1-0 advantage and Sachs leading, 6-4, 3-6, 3-2.
The Cowboys will end their weekend set tomorrow in Atlanta, Ga., with a 9 a.m. face-off against Georgia State at the Atlanta Athletic Club. A win over the Panthers would put this year's Cowboy Tennis squad in the Oklahoma State record books, as an 8-0 mark would give the team its best start in school history.
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Complete Results
No. 29 Oklahoma State 4, No. 36 Alabama 0
February 8, 2014 | Tuscaloosa, Ala. | Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility
Singles
- Madregallejo/Proskura (ALA) def. Sude/Sachs (OSU) 6-4
- Kadhe/Bohrnstedt (OSU) def. Donohue/O'Shaughnessey (ALA) 6-5(4)
- Gerch/Campbell (OSU) def. Goodwin/Kenyon (ALA) 6-5(12)
Order of finish: (1, 2, 3)
Doubles
- Jakob Sude (OSU) vs. #14 Daniil Proskura (ALA) 3-6, 6-5(2), 1-0 uf.
- Sebastian Sachs (OSU) vs. #51 Becker O'Shaugnessey (ALA) 6-4, 3-6, 3-2 uf.
- Arjun Kadhe (OSU) def. Nikko Madregallejo (ALA) 6-4, 6-3
- Lucas Gerch (OSU) def. Stuart Kenyon (ALA) 6-5(4), 6-5(4)
- Brady Bohrnstedt (OSU) vs. Sean Donohue (ALA) 6-4, 3-6, 2-1 uf.
- Chris Haworth (OSU) def. Andrew Goodwin (ALA) 6-5(5), 6-3
Order of finish: (3, 6, 4)
Players Mentioned
