Cowboys Conclude Regular Season With Bedlam

Match Notes

The Basics
The Cowboys cap off their historic regular season with Bedlam as No. 10 Oklahoma heads to Stillwater on Saturday. The match starts at noon and will be played at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

OSU has set many program records this season, including the highest ranking at No. 5 (three times) and the best 15-match start to a season at 14-1.

Big 12 Championship Seeding Scenarios
OSU win, Tech win: Cowboys secure three seed
OSU win, Tech loss: Cowboys take two seed because of head-to-head win vs. Tech
OSU loss, Texas loss: Cowboys receive four seed
OSU loss, Texas win: Cowboys fall to five seed because Texas won head-to-head

Follow the Match Live
A live stream of the match will be available at okstate.com/watchtennis, while those who want to follow the live stats feed can visit okstate.statbroadcast.com.

For live updates on each match, make sure to follow @CowboyTennis on Twitter.

In the ITA Rankings
Oklahoma State creeps closer to the top 10 in the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings as they check in at No. 12.

The jump in the polls comes after an impressive homestand this past weekend for the Pokes as they defeated two conference foes in No. 10 Texas Tech and No. 37 Baylor. The victory against the Red Raiders marked only the second time ever that OSU had beaten a top 10 team at the Greenwood Tennis Center.

Another singles poll was released as well, and Cowboy Julian Cash made a significant jump by moving 14 spots to No. 45 in the country. Two-time All-American Arjun Kadhe also made a rise in the poll to No. 115.

In the newest doubles rankings, Cowboys Kadhe/Cash remain in the top 10 at No. 6, which is the 15th-straight week they've been inside the top 10. Temur Ismailov/Lucas Gerch round out the doubles rankings for the Pokes at No. 80.

Spring Season Is Gerch's Time To Shine
OSU's Lucas Gerch continues to dominate this spring as he's currently riding an 11-match winning streak in singles.

A hot start in the spring isn't uncommon for the German as he won 14 of 15 singles matches to begin the spring last season and is off to another great start this spring, sitting at 14-2 in singles.

Gerch has also played well in doubles with partners Temur Ismailov and Tristan Meraut. Ismailov/Gerch, ranked No. 80, have compiled a 12-3 record this season and reached the round of 16 at the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla, California.

Mendoza Named Big 12 Player of the Week
OSU's Jurence Mendoza became the fourth Cowboy this season to be named Big 12 Player of the Week, the league announced on Wednesday.

This is the first time Mendoza has received the weekly honor as he's coming off an incredible performance this past weekend against Texas Tech and Baylor.

The sophomore clinched the victory over the No. 10 Red Raiders with a three-set win on court five over Connor Curry. He also went undefeated in doubles play on the weekend with partner Lucas Gerch, which helped the Cowboys secure the doubles point in both matches.

Cowboys vs. Opponent
OSU looks to snap an eight-match skid against the Sooners on Saturday at the Greenwood Tennis Center. The last meeting between the two rivals took place in Norman, Oklahoma. The Pokes took the doubles point to start, but the top-ranked Sooners proved to be too much and won the match, 4-1.

Prior to the start of the OU win streak in 2010, the Cowboys dominated the Sooners from 1996-2009 as they won 20 consecutive matches.

Series History vs. Oklahoma

   Overall series:     OSU leads 42-30
   First meeting:      OU won 10-5 (1965)
   Last meeting:       OU won 4-1 (2015)
   Last OSU win:     2009

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 in the Cowboys' home match against Georgia State. Young presented a celebratory plaque to Udwadia during the intermission between doubles and singles play.

When he arrived at 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, winning 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.

Last Time Out
After splitting the first two doubles decisions, court two would decide the doubles point as Cowboys Lucas Gerch/Jurence Mendoza faced off against Baylor's Felipe Rios/Jimmy Bendeck. The Bears denied the Pokes' first opportunity to clinch the point by tying the match at five, but Gerch/Mendoza went on to win the final two games in the set to give OSU a 1-0 advantage.

Mendoza quickly extended the Cowboy lead to 2-0 with a straight-sets win court six, but Baylor answered with back-to-back victories to tie the score at two.

Lukas Finzelberg would put a stop to the rally shortly with a straight-set win on court six over Podvinski, 6-4, 6-1, to propel the Cowboys back on top with two matches remaining.

Tristan Meraut battled back to win an unbelievable second-set tiebreak, 9-7, forcing his match to a third set. In the third, the Paris native looked unstoppable on the court as he didn't give up a game in the set, winning it, 6-0, and giving the Cowboys the 4-2 victory over No. 37 Baylor.

No. 14 Oklahoma State def. No. 37 Baylor, 4-2

Doubles | Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

C1: #5 Cash/Kadhe (OSU) def. #82 Podvinski/Tchoutakian (BU) 6-2
C2: Lucas Gerch/Jurence Mendoza (OSU) def. Rios/Bendeck (BU) 7-5
C3: Lenz/Stayer (BU) def. Finzelberg/Meraut (OSU) 6-4

Singles | Order of Finish: 6, 2, 1, 5, 4

C1: #17 Julian Lenz (BU) def. #59 Julian Cash (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
C2: #85 Max Tchoutakian (BU) def. #119 Arjun Kadhe (OSU) 6-3, 6-2
C3: Lucas Gerch (OSU) vs. Felipe Rios (BU) 6-4, 4-6, 5-5, unfinished
C4: Tristan Meraut (OSU) def. Jimmy Bendeck (BU) 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-0
C5: Lukas Finzelberg (OSU) def. Tommy Podvinski (BU) 6-4, 6-1
C6: #125 Jurence Mendoza (OSU) def. Tyler Stayer (BU) 6-1, 6-1

The Finz-isher
Cowboy Lukas Finzelberg has proven to be one of the key players for the Pokes thus far as he currently sits at 12-2 in singles.

The sophomore has finished off four matches for the Pokes this season, each one coming against a ranked opponent. Finzelberg closed out the Cowboys' 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 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.

All-American's Kadhe/Cash Win Pacific Coast Doubles Title
For the second consecutive year a Cowboy duo won the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship.

Arjun Kadhe/Julian Cash, ranked No. 6, joined the likes of Arthur Ashe and John McEnroe by winning the prestigious title. The All-American duo won seven doubles matches in three days, including a victory over Stanford's Fawcett/Romanwicz in the final.

Kadhe/Cash have now been crowned doubles champs twice this season with the other one coming in October at the ITA All-American Championships.

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

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Players Mentioned

Julian Cash

Lukas Finzelberg

Lucas Gerch

Temur Ismailov

Arjun Kadhe

Jurence Mendoza

Tristan Meraut

Oklahoma State University Athletics