Cowboys Head To Malibu For Showdown With Pepperdine

Notes vs. Pepperdine

The Basics
After extending their win streak to 10 on Sunday, the Cowboys head to Malibu, California to take on their 11th ranked opponent of the year in No. 71 Pepperdine.

The match will take place on Saturday at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center and will begin at 7 p.m. CT.

Follow the Match Live
Live scoring will be available on the men's tennis page at pepperdinesports.com. Here's a direct link to the live scoring page: http://gowav.es/mtenscores. For updates on each match, follow @CowboyTennis on Twitter.

In the ITA Rankings
For the fourth-straight week, Oklahoma State remains in the top 10 of the Oracle/ITA Rankings at No. 6 in the latest rankings, released on Tuesday.

The Cowboys are coming off a sweep of No. 47 Iowa and Lamar at the Greenwood Tennis Center on Sunday. With the two victories, the Pokes moved to 14-1 on the season, which is tied for the best 15-match start in program history.

Another round of singles and doubles rankings was released on March 8th and Cowboy Julian Cash made a significant jump in the polls, spiking up 26 spots to No. 49 with his straight-set win over No. 7-ranked Andre Gorransson, 6-4, 6-2. Pokes Arjun Kadhe and Jurence Mendoza round out the singles rankings at No. 115 and No. 125.

In doubles, All-American duo Kadhe/Cash climbed six spots back into the top 10 at No. 9. The dynamic tandem has been inside the top 15 all season.

Coach Udwadia Records 200th Career Victory
Oklahoma State's victory against No. 32 Harvard was a special one for Cowboy head coach Jay Udwadia as he collected his 200th career win. Udwadia becomes only the second coach in Cowboy history to record his 200th win with OSU, the only other coach was Cowboy legend James Wadley.

Cowgirl Tennis head coach Chris Young honored Udwadia last Friday in the Cowboys home match against Georgia State. Young presented a celebratory plaque to Udwadia during the intermission between doubles and singles play.

Entering OSU, Udwadia had 145 career wins with stops at Drake and Fresno State where he turned both programs into yearly conference title contenders. At Fresno State, Udwadia reached the conference finals six of his eight years and won the title in 2011 and 2012.

The New York native is also only the second coach in Cowboy Tennis history to collect more than 50 wins in his first three seasons, as he won 51 games before entering this season.

After back-to-back NCAA Second Round appearances, the future looks bright for coach Udwadia and the Oklahoma State men's tennis program.

Cowboys vs. Opponents
The Cowboys will battle Pepperdine for only the second time in program history on Sunday. In 2015, the first meeting between the two teams took place at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

After a strong doubles performance, the Cowboys got three quick victories in singles to defeat Pepperdine, 4-0.

In the ITA Rankings, Pepperdine's Guilherme Hadlich/Gabriel Sidney hold a spot in the top 30 of the doubles rankings at No. 27.

Series History vs. Pepperdine
Overall series         Cowboys lead 1-0
First meeting (2015)      OSU won 4-0
Last meeting (2015)      OSU won 4-0
Last OSU win                     2015

Cash Earns Second Big 12 Player of the Week Honor
Oklahoma State's Julian Cash earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors for the second time this season, the league announced last Thursday.

The All-American is coming off an impressive upset win against the No. 7-ranked singles player in the nation and the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship, where Cash/Kadhe won seven matches in three day to take the title.

Cash previously received the weekly honor back in January and makes it the third time a Cowboy has been named Big 12 Player of the Week this season.

Big 12 Strongest in the Nation
The Big 12 conference continues to be one of the most talented leagues in the nation with all six teams staying in the top 25. The only other conference with more teams in the top 25 is the SEC with seven.

Last Time Out
The Oklahoma State men's tennis squad jumped out to its best 15 match start in program history on Sunday with dominant victories over No. 47 Iowa and Lamar at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

After the 4-1 victory over No. 47 Iowa, the Pokes looked to complete the sweep against Lamar. In doubles, the Cowboys needed to pick up their No. 1 duo as they fell on court one. Luckily, OSU duos Tristan Meraut/Lucas Gerch and Jurence Mendoza/Lukas Finzelberg would lead the comeback surge to give the Cowboys the doubles point.

The singles portion of the match was tight in the early stages, but Gerch and Finzelberg pulled away from their opponents to extend the OSU lead to 3-0. Shortly after, All-American Arjun Kadhe won on court two to clinch the match and shutout for the Pokes.

No. 5 Oklahoma State def. Lamar, 4-0

March 13, 2016 | Greenwood Tennis Center | Stillwater, Oklahoma

Doubles | Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

C1: Feucht/Schweizer (LU) def. No. 9 Kadhe/Cash (OSU), 6-2
C2: Meraut/Gerch (OSU) def. Hoogenboezem/Lis (LU), 6-4
C3: Finzelberg/Mendoza (OSU) def. Santibanez/Laitinen (LU), 6-3

Singles | Order of Finish: 5, 3, 2

C1: No. 49 Julian Cash (OSU) vs. Michael Feucht (LU) 3-6, 6-3, 3-4 unf.
C2: No. 115 Arjun Kadhe (OSU) def. Nikita Lis (LU) 7-6 (5), 6-3
C3: Lucas Gerch (OSU) vs. Sebastian Santibanez (LU) 6-2, 6-2
C4: Tristan Meraut (OSU) vs. Benny Schweizer (LU) 7-5, 4-6 unf.
C5: Lukas Finzelberg (OSU) def. Jeandre Hoogenboezem (LU) 6-3, 6-2
C6: No. 125 Jurence Mendoza (OSU) vs. Jusso Laitinen (LU) 3-6, 6-3, 3-0 unf.

Finz-isher
Cowboy Lukas Finzelberg has proven to be one of the key players thus far as he currently sits at 10-0 in singles and has played well with partner Jurence Mendoza in doubles.

The sophomore has finished off three matches for the Pokes this season, each one being against a ranked opponent. Finzelberg closed out the Pokes' biggest win of the year against No. 11 Wake Forest at the Greenwood Tennis Center in late January. He split the first two sets against Wake Forest's Christian Seraphim before grinding out a hard-earned three set victory to give the Cowboys their first win against a top 15 opponent since 2014.

The German native wouldn't wait long to clinch another match as he capped off the weekend by securing the win against No. 22 Minnesota just two days later.

With the Cowboys about to enter conference play in the next month, Finzelberg looks to continue being a force for the Pokes.

Kadhe Seeks Third-Straight All-American Honor
Last season, Kadhe and his former doubles partner Jakob Sude were the first Cowboy doubles team in Oklahoma State history to earn back-to-back All-American honors.

Kadhe looks to become only the third Cowboy in Oklahoma State history to earn three All-American honors. The two Cowboys to have three All-American honors are Oleksandr Nedovyesov (2008-2010) and Sude (2014-15).

He will have a good chance at completing the task, as Kadhe and his new doubles partner Julian Cash have already developed a great connection on the court together by winning the back draw at the ITA All-American Championship and earning the third-highest doubles ranking in Cowboy Tennis history at No. 5 just last week.

Follow Cowboy Tennis
Stay up to date with the Oklahoma State men's tennis team on the following social media sites:
   Twitter: @CowboyTennis
   Instagram: @CowboyTennis
   Facebook: Oklahoma State Cowboy Tennis
   Snapchat: OSUathletics
   YouTube: youtube.com/osuathletics

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Players Mentioned

Julian Cash

Lukas Finzelberg

Lucas Gerch

Arjun Kadhe

Jurence Mendoza

Tristan Meraut

Jakob Sude

Oklahoma State University Athletics