Cowboys Set For First Road Test of Season

PDF Notes - North Carolina State

STILLWATER - The Oklahoma State men's tennis team faces its first road test of the spring season this weekend, as the 12th-ranked Cowboys head to the east coast to square off with North Carolina State. OSU has only faced North Carolina State once prior to this weekend's matchup, with the Cowboys blanking the Wolfpack, 7-0, in Stillwater last season.

The Oklahoma State Lineup
- At the top of the Cowboys' doubles lineup is the returning All-American duo of Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe. Cash and Kadhe made history last season, winning a record 34 matches as a tandem, and became just the fourth team in OSU history to earn All-America honors.
- The Cowboys also return five other upperclassmen this season in Lukas Finzelberg, Lucas Gerch, Jurence Mendoza, Tristan Meraut and Nathan Roper. All five figure to play a key role in the OSU lineup this season, including Gerch, whose 69 career singles victories puts him in ninth place on OSU's all-time wins list.
- The final members of head coach Jay Udwadia's roster will be newcomers Mathieu Scaglia and Artur Dubinski.

Match Updates
- For updates during matches, follow @CowboyTennis on Twitter and then check okstate.com for post-match results and a recap from the day's action.

Oklahoma State from a Distance
- Oklahoma State returns seven upperclassmen from a season that saw the Cowboys host an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2007 and advance to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time in program history. The Cowboys racked up 20 duals wins for the second time under head coach Jay Udwadia, with 12 of those victories coming against ranked competition.
- This year, Udwadia enters his fifth season in charge of the Cowboys and earned his 75th win as OSU's head coach when his Cowboys blanked No. 14 Kentucky to secure their spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. Udwadia is joined by first-year assistant coach Marek Michalicka.

Last Time Out
- Oklahoma State continued to show why it is a program on the rise under head coach Jay Udwadia, as the Cowboys stormed through two top-25 opponents (No. 22 Columbia & No. 14 Kentucky) en route to securing their first trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship since 2008.

Notable Streaks and Trends
- The Cowboys have been ranked in the top-30 of the ITA Rankings for 27 consecutive weeks. The last time OSU was outside of the top-30 was May 1, 2015.
- The Cowboys have won at least 15 matches in each of the last three seasons under head coach Jay Udwadia. Twice during that stretch OSU has hit the 20-win mark, winning 22 in 2014 and 20 a season ago.
- Oklahoma State has had a doubles tandem earn All-America honors in each of the past three seasons. Last season it was Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe achieving the feat, while Kadhe and Jakob Sude recorded the first two during the 2014 and 2015 NCAA Tournaments. Kadhe is the first OSU player to ever be named an All-American in doubles on three occasions.
- Since 2013, the Cowboys have made three-straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including advancing to the Round of 16 last season. That streak is the second longest in program history, trailing only a seven-year streak from 2003-09 that saw the Cowboys reach the Round of 16 on three occasions.
- Lucas Gerch and Arjun Kadhe have both started their senior campaigns in tremendous form, as they have both recorded four straight-set victories to open the dual season. They are both also unbeaten in doubles play so far this spring, with Kadhe claiming victory on three occassions and Gerch twice.

Record Watch
- Arjun Kadhe's 80 career doubles wins puts him in a tie for second place with Cliff Price on the Cowboys' all-time list. Kadhe needs just 12 more wins this season to tie Charlie Laster for the program record. The Pune, India native also holds 63 career singles wins, which leaves him tied for 10th on OSU's all-time wins list.
- With 69 career singles wins, Lucas Gerch is currently in ninth place on the all-time list. If the German international matches last season's 22 wins, he would conclude his OSU career in fifth place.
- Julian Cash's record-setting 2015-16 season left him with 34 doubles wins as a Cowboy. If he and partner Arjun Kadhe were to replicate their success from last season, Cash would find himself in sixth place after his junior campaign.
- Arjun Kadhe currently sits with Oleksandr Nedovyesov and his former doubles partner Jakob Sude as the only three-time All-Americans in OSU history. With his senior campaign set to begin, Kadhe can become the first Cowboy to earn All-America honors on four occasions this year.

Cowboys in the ITA Rankings
- The Oklahoma State duo of Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe became the first doubles tandem in Oklahoma State history to hold the top spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Rankings after coming in at No. 1 in the September 13 edition of the ITA Rankings this season. OSU's top tandem in currently ranked at No. 5 in the nation.
- Lukas Finzelberg is currently Oklahoma State's highest-ranked singles competitor, as the senior currently holds the No. 30 spot in the ITA singles rankings. Cash, who sits at No. 41, joins Finzelberg in the singles ranking.

The Udwadia Effect
- Since head coach Jay Udwadia took over the program in June of 2012, the Cowboys have seen a resurgence as they have begun to re-enter the national spotlight. OSU's 71 wins during Udwadia's first four years marks the most in a four-year stretch since the Cowboys won 76 from 2005-08.
- Of those 71 wins, 32 have come against ranked competition, including 10 wins over top-25 foes, as the Cowboys have routinely faced the toughest the nation has to offer during Udwadia's four years at the helm. This season the Pokes will again face one of the nation's toughest schedules as their 2016-17 slate includes 15 teams that earned NCAA Tournament bids a season ago.

Home, Sweet Home
- In the three-plus years since it first opened, the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center has provided an incredible home-court advantage to the Cowboys. During that time, OSU has won a staggering 38 matches when playing in the confines of the Greenwood Tennis Center.

Thriving in the Classroom
- Oklahoma State men's tennis has been a fixture of academic success dating back to the first Academic All-Big 12 team in 1997. In each of the past 20 seasons, OSU has had a representative on the Academic All-Big 12 team every year and has had multiple Cowboys earn the honor on 18 occasions.
- Under head coach Jay Udwadia, the Cowboys boast an impressive total of 17 Academic All-Big 12 selections and 11 ITA Scholar-Athletes. Senior Lucas Gerch added to OSU's list of academic achievement last season when he was awarded as the Big 12's Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Oklahoma State Returns to National Indoors
- The Oklahoma State men's tennis team, facing one of the nation's toughest regions, rolled past No. 22 Columbia, 4-1, and 14th-ranked Kentucky, 4-0, to capture the ITA Kick-Off Weekend title. OSU has now won 10 matches against top-25 opponents under head coach Jay Udwadia.
- The Cowboys' triumph at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Stillwater means that they will make their first appearance at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship since 2008.

Cash and Kadhe Capture ITA Central Regional Title
- Oklahoma State's Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe stormed through the field at this fall's ITA Central Regional Championships, as the nation's top-ranked duo became the first Cowboy tandem to win the event since Aleksey Bessonov and Cowboy legend Oleksandr Nedovyesov won the tournament in 2009.
- After a record-setting year last season, Cash and Kadhe have continued to cement themselves as one of the greatest Oklahoma State doubles duos of all time. The pair became the first doubles team in OSU history to earn the top spot in the ITA Rankings when they were named No. 1 on September 13. As a pair, the duo have already won 42 matches together, 11 of which have come against opponents ranked by the ITA.

Fall Recap
- The Cowboys had a packed 2016 fall season that includes some of collegiate tennis' toughest competition, which began with the fifth annual Silverado Resort and Spa's College Tennis Invitational in Napa, California. OSU sent four players, including freshman Mathieu Scaglia, to the event where the Cowboys compiled five teams wins. Scaglia was one of the bright spots for the Pokes as the Frejus, France native shined in his first collegiate singles action, going a perfect 3-0 during the event.
- The Cowboys wrapped up their second event of the fall season when they competed in the John Breaux Cajun Tennis Classic. Lukas Finzelberg was one of the event's standouts as he won his first three matches of the season to advance to the semifinals at the event. The German's run marks the third straight year that a Cowboy has advanced to at least the quarterfinals at the tournament.
- OSU saw all eight Cowboys on head coach Jay Udwadia's roster take part in the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships. The Cowboys' top-ranked duo of Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe, as well as Lukas Finzelberg, were standouts for OSU at the event. Cash and Kadhe knocked off three ranked foes to advance to the finals of the consolation bracket for the second straight year while Finzelberg too defeated three opponents that hold spots in the top-100 of the ITA Rankings as he advanced through qualifying play and ultimately to the Round of 32 in the main draw.

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Players Mentioned

Julian Cash

Artur Dubinski

Lukas Finzelberg

Lucas Gerch

Arjun Kadhe

Jurence Mendoza

Tristan Meraut

Nathan Roper

Mathieu Scaglia

Jakob Sude

Oklahoma State University Athletics