Top Five Cowboys Head To The Golden State

Notes vs. California & PCD

The Basics
Off to their best start since 2007, the No. 5 Cowboys make their way to the Golden State as they prepare to take on No. 18 California in La Jolla, California on Thursday. Following the match, the Pokes will participate in the Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament, which is also in La Jolla.
Last year, Oklahoma State's Nicolai Ferrigno and Lucas Gerch won the main draw at the tournament by defeating Southern Cal's Thibault Forget/Roberto Quiroz in a three set thriller, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Follow the Match Live
Live scoring will not be available for the match against Cal and the Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament this weekend. For live updates on both events make sure to follow the OSU men's tennis Twitter page (@CowboyTennis).
Also, results from the Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament will be posted to http://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=170901#&&s=6.

In the ITA Rankings
The Cowboys climbed to No. 5 in the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings on Tuesday, which is the highest ranking in program history. Previously, the 2007-08 Cowboys held the top spot at No. 7, but coach Jay Udwadia and the 2016 Cowboys have surpassed that mark and are off to the program's best start since the 2007 season at 11-1.
The Pokes' historic jump in the poll comes after quite an impressive showing at the Blue Gray Classic, where they defeated Alabama and No. 14 South Florida. Oklahoma State was the only team at the tournament to finish undefeated in dual play, going 2-0 on the weekend and outscoring their opponents 8-1.
Four Cowboys find themselves in the singles rankings with All-American Julian Cash leading the way at No. 75. Jurence Mendoza and Arjun Kadhe moved up two spots to No. 91 and No. 109 in the rankings, while Cowboy Temur Ismailov makes his ITA singles rankings debut at No. 115.
In the doubles rankings, All-American Cowboy duo Kadhe/Cash are the only OSU duo in the latest rankings at No. 15, which puts them at eight-straight weeks inside the top-15.

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 seek their first victory against the Golden Bears on Thursday as California has won all three meetings between the two teams. The last match between the Pokes and Golden Bears was in 2008, where Cal defeated Oklahoma State 4-3 at Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Series History vs. California
Overall series               Cal leads 3-0
First meeting (1989)      Cal won 5-2
Last meeting (2008) Cal won 4-3
Last OSU win                    None

Finzelberg, Cash Earn Big 12 Player of the Week Honors
Oklahoma State's Lukas Finzelberg and Julian Cash earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks for the Cowboys, which marks the first time in Cowboy Tennis history that two OSU players have won the weekly honor in consecutive weeks.
With Cash being the first one to receive the honor this year, he was the first Cowboy to be named Big 12 Player of the Week since 2010.

Last Time Out
Last Saturday, the Pokes defeated No. 14 South Florida at the Blue Gray Classic to continue their historic start this season as they sit at 11-1 on the year, which is the best start since 2007. In the match against the Bulls, All-American Cowboy duo Arjun Kadhe/Julian Cash led a furious comeback in doubles. The No. 15-ranked doubles team won five straight games to win their match 6-4, which helped Temur Ismailov/Lucas Gerch clinch the doubles point for Oklahoma State on court two with their 7-6(0) victory.

No. 9 Oklahoma State def. No. 14 South Florida, 4-1

February 27, 2016 | Lagoon Park Tennis Center | Blue Gray Classic

Doubles | Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2

C1: No. 15 Kadhe/Cash (OSU) def. No. 46 Cotrone/Roberts (USF), 6-4
C2: Ismailov/Gerch (OSU) def. Gozun/Bertran (USF), 7-6(0)
C3: Cid/Gonzalez (USF) def. Mendoza/Finzelberg (OSU), 6-0

Singles | Order of Finish: 6, 2, 1, 3*

C1: No. 5 Roberto Cid (USF) def. No. 75 Julian Cash (OSU), 6-4, 6-3
C2: No. 115 Temur Ismailov (OSU) def. Sasha Gozun (USF), 6-3, 6-3
C3: No. 109 Arjun Kadhe (OSU) def. Justin Roberts (USF), 6-2, 7-5
C4: Lucas Gerch (OSU) vs. Peter Bertran (USF), 6-4, 5-4 unf.
C5: Tristan Meraut (OSU) vs. Ignacio Gonzalez (USF), 7-6(4), 1-2 unf.
C6: Lukas Finzelberg (OSU) def. Everth Dzib (USF), 6-0, 6-0

Former Cowboy Becomes Assistant Coach
Three-time All-American Jakob Sude was named an Undergraduate Student Assistant Coach by coach Jay Udwadia this season. After finishing his final year of eligibility last season, Sude looks to use the experience he gained while playing tennis at OSU to coach his former teammates.
As a Cowboy, the All-American was the consistent No. 1 for the Pokes, as he helped lead the Pokes to 39 victories over the past two seasons. In 2015, he won 14 singles matches, including a victory against the No. 1 player in the ITA Rankings, Soren Hess-Olsen, of Texas, 6-4, 6-2. Sude was also the first Cowboy since 2010 to earn All-American status in singles play, as the Cowboy made it all the way to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championships.

Big 12 Strongest in the Nation
The Big 12 conference continues to be the most talented conference in the nation with all six teams being inside the top 15, which puts the conference with the most teams in the top 25. The only other conference with at least five is the Big Ten.
Highlighting the conference in the latest rankings is TCU at No. 3, OSU at No. 5 and Texas Tech at No. 10.

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

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Julian Cash

Nicolai Ferrigno

Lukas Finzelberg

Lucas Gerch

Temur Ismailov

Arjun Kadhe

Jurence Mendoza

Tristan Meraut

Jakob Sude

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