Cowboys Travel to Orlando to Take on UCF

Full Match Notes

No. 23 Oklahoma State Cowboys (13-5, 0-0 Big 12)
at
Central Florida Knights (8-8; 1-0 American)
UCF Tennis Complex
Orlando, Fla.
March 20, 2019, 5 p.m. CST

THE BASICS
            Oklahoma State's men's tennis team will compete in its final non-conference match of the 2019 dual season as it travels to take on the Central Florida Knights (8-8, 1-0 American) Wednesday at 5 p.m. CST.
            The No. 23 Cowboys are coming off a 2-1 week where they fell to in-state rival Tulsa, 4-3, then bounced back to record two victories in Friday's doubleheader against Charlotte and UMKC.
            OSU has won nine of its last 11 matches, and will look to record a victory over the Knights before their nine-day off-stretch prior to the start of conference play at Oklahoma on March 29.

THE OKLAHOMA STATE LINEUP
            Oklahoma State returns four letterwinners from last year's squad that appeared in the NCAA tournament for a fifth-straight time.
            Included in that group is the only senior on the team, Artur Dubinski. The Minsk, Belarus, native is the only All-Big 12 honoree returning to the team. A season ago, Dubinski and his partner, Eleftherios Theodorou earned second-team doubles All-Big 12 honors. The pair recorded a 16-11 doubles record. Dubinski also recorded an 18-10 singles record across fall and spring play last year.
            Also returning this season for the Pokes is sophomore Luke Hammond. Hailing from Birmingham, United Kingdom, Hammond finished the 2017-18 season as one of the most utilized and successful freshman in the storied history of Oklahoma State men's tennis. Hammond is already just eight wins behind Lukas Finzelberg for sixth in victories across their first two years as a Cowboy (records kept since 2009-10 season)
            The Cowboys also return junior Mathieu Scaglia, and sophomores Maxim Tybar and Brady Draheim, all of whom will play key roles in the OSU lineup this season.
            The team boasts a strong duo of newcomers including Emile Hudd and the ITA's No. 2-ranked freshman/newcomer, Matej Vocel of the Czech Republic.

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 three sophomores from a season that saw the Cowboys appeared in the NCAA Regionals for the fifth year in a row. Two of the returning sophomores played key roles on the team last year. The Cowboys racked up at least 20 duals wins for the fourth time under head coach Jay Udwadia, with 6 of those victories coming against ranked competition.
            This year, Udwadia enters his seventh season in charge of the Cowboys and will continue to climb up the coaching ranks in the OSU record book. He sits at second in career victories at OSU (116) and third in career winning percentage (.667). Udwadia is joined by first-year associate head coach Scoville Jenkins and first-year volunteer assistant coach Hunter Nicholas.

PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS
            The Pokes lead the all-time series with the Knights, 2-0, with the last matchup coming last season. OSU swept UCF, 4-0, in Stillwater last year behind singles victories from current Cowboys, Mathieu Scaglia and Luke Hammond.
            The only other matchup between the two schools came in 2010, which was a 5-2 Oklahoma State victory.


NOTABLE STREAKS AND TRENDS
?The Cowboys have won nine of their last 11 matches and have never lost to UCF
?The Cowboys have won at least 15 matches in each of the last five seasons under head coach Jay Udwadia. Four times during that stretch OSU has hit the 20-win mark, winning 21 in 2014, 20 in 2016, 22 in 2017 and 20 in 2018.
?Since 2014, the Cowboys have made five-straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including advancing to the Round of 16 three seasons ago. 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.

HOME, SWEET HOME
            In the four seasons 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 62 matches when playing in the confines of the Greenwood Tennis Center.
            The Cowboys are slated to play 11 matches on their home courts this upcoming season. Fans will get the opportunity to see them in action quickly, with three out of the first five dual matches scheduled to take part in Stillwater. That home lineup of matches includes the season-opening doubleheader against Omaha and Creighton, as well as SEC foe Ole Miss.

RECORD WATCH
?Luke Hammond's 20 singles victories during his freshman year puts him at seventh in victories across their first two years as a Cowboy (records kept since 2009-10 season). Hammond is eight singles wins behind Lukas Finzelberg for sixth in the category, and if he can imitate his performance from a season ago, he can catch all-time great Cowboy Oleksandr Nedovyesov, with 41 victories across his first two seasons as Cowboy.
?With a career record of 30-12 and a winning percentage of .714 entering the 2019 spring season, Mathieu Scaglia is tenth in career singles win percentage (minimum 25 matches) in the Big 12 Era.
?Coach Udwadia currently sits at second in school history with 118 wins in his coaching career at Oklahoma State. He trails only the legendary James Wadley's 662 wins. Udwadia is also third in career win percentage at .667, and can pass Phil Haller's .683 this season.

FALL RECAP
            The Cowboy Tennis fall season commenced with a pair of tournaments in California. Four Cowboys went to the Silverado Invitational in Napa, Calif., and three went to the Futures F24 tournament in Claremont, Calif. Sophomore Matej Vocel advanced to the semifinal of the F24 tournament, falling to USA's Martin Redlicki, 7-6 (6), 6-4. The Cowboys collected 19 victories across singles and doubles over the opening week of fall action.
            On the weekend of Sept. 21, Maxim Tybar and Mathieu Scaglia traveled to Lafayette, La. for the Louisiana John Breaux Cajun Tennis Classic. Scaglia won three singles matches, which earned him a spot in the tournament final against Texas' Leonardo Telles. In the final, Telles defeated Scaglia 6-4, 6-4. Scaglia and Tybar also competed in doubles play at the Cajun Classic, but fell in the first round of the main draw to Malik Bhatnagar and Shane Monroe of LSU, 8-6.
            The Cowboys then made the short trip to Tulsa for the ITA All-American Championships. The doubles pair of Scaglia and Vocel reached the doubles round of 16 at the tournament, defeating three tandems in the qualifying bracket, and also recorded a win in the first round of the main draw (round of 32).
            The Cowboys returned to Tulsa two weeks later, where the Pokes recorded their most successful tournament of the fall season. Freshman Emile Hudd paired with Tybar to win the ITA Central Regional doubles title. The pair defeated Drake's Vinny Gillespie and Barny Thorold, 6-4, 6-4, in the championship match on Oct. 21. In the semifinal, Hudd and Tybar faced another OSU tandem, Vocel and Artur Dubinski. Hudd and Tybar defeated Vocel and Dubinski in the semifinal, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-7.
            During the first weekend of November, Hudd and sophomore Brady Draheim traveled to Sarasota, Fla., for the Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic. The pair reached the doubles quarterfinal round, where they fell to Notre Dame's William Howells and Axel Nefve, 8-3. In singles play, Hudd fell in his first match of the tournament, but then went on to reach the consolation final where he fell to Florida State's Enzo Le Seguillon, 6-0, 6-3.
            In the final tournament of the fall season, six Cowboys competed at the Norman Open futures tournament. Vocel recorded four victories during the week-long tournament and reached the singles final, but fell to Gijs Brouwer of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-2.
            The Cowboys will look to build off their success this fall during the spring season.

COWBOYS IN THE ITA RANKINGS
            Winners of nine of its last 11 matches, the Cowboys check in at No. 23 in the latest Oracle/ITA team rankings.
            In the latest Oracle/ITA singles ranks, senior Artur Dubinski checked in a No. 85, closing in on his career-best ranking of No. 71.
            The doubles team of Mathieu Scaglia and Maxim Tybar were ranked at No. 22 after going 7-3 over the past three weeks across dual and tournament action. The tandem is 3-0 against ranked competition, including three top-30 victories.
            The ITA ranked Cowboy newcomer Matej Vocel as the No. 2 freshman/newcomer for the 2018-19 season in September.

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 112 wins (coming into this year) during Udwadia's tenure marks the most in a six-year stretch since the Cowboys won 113 from 1984-89.
            Of those 112 wins, 47 have come against ranked competition, including 18 wins over top-25 foes, as the Cowboys have routinely faced the toughest the nation has to offer during Udwadia's six years at the helm. This season the Pokes will again face one of the nation's toughest schedules as their 2018 slate includes six teams that are ranked in the ITA preseason rankings.

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 22 seasons, OSU has had a representative on the Academic All-Big 12 team every year and has had multiple Cowboys earn the honor on 20 occasions.
            Under head coach Jay Udwadia, the Cowboys boast an impressive total of 28 Academic All-Big 12 selections and 20 ITA Scholar-Athletes.

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Players Mentioned

Brady Draheim

Artur Dubinski

Lukas Finzelberg

Luke Hammond

Emile Hudd

Mathieu Scaglia

Eleftherios Theodorou

Maxim Tybar

Matej Vocel

Oklahoma State University Athletics