Cowboy Tennis Falls in Close Match at UCF

Thursday, March 28

Orlando, FL

6:00 p.m. CT

Oklahoma State University

UCF

March 28, 2024 | Cowboy Tennis

Box Score (PDF)

ORLANDO, Fla. – In a match that came down to three tiebreakers and lasted over four hours, the 26^th-ranked Oklahoma State men's tennis team fell to No. 29 UCF, 3-4, on Thursday night at the USTA National Campus.

OSU moved to 15-5 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play.

In doubles action, Alessio Basile and Isaac Becroft continued their dominance, earning a 6-3 victory to claim court two over UCF's Liam Branger and Lleyton Cronje. The pairing tallied its 11^th win, a team high.

As first-time partners this season, Alex Garcia and Francisco Pini clinched the doubles point for the Cowboys when they defeated Francisco Llanes and Santiago Giamichelle, 6-4. The duo improved to 7-4 all time.

In a new pairing for OSU, Tyler Zink and Erik Schiessl's match against UCF's Paul Colin and Yassine Dlimi went unfinished with a 6-5 OSU advantage.

After losing the doubles point, the Knights rallied to win four first sets.

Garcia's match was the first to finish, winning 6-3, 6-4, on court three over UCF's Llanes to extend OSU's advantage to 2-0.

The Knights responded when Mehdi Benchakroun dropped Pini, 6-4, 6-3. They added another when Giamichelle defeated OSU's Basile, 6-4, 6-4, to even things up at two apiece.

Zink gave OSU the lead winning in the third set, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. The victory completed a perfect road trip and extended his winning streak to five.

Coming down to courts two and four, Becroft forced a pivotal third set in a second-set tiebreaker.

Shortly after, Schiessl fell to UCF's Branger, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, to tie the match at three all.

With the match riding on court two, and the first-two sets going into a tiebreaker, UCF won the match in the third set. The breaker was tied at three, four and five before UCF's Cronje came out victorious, 7-6(5), 6-7 (3) and 7-6(5).

The Cowboys will return home to face third-ranked TCU on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.

For season-long coverage of Oklahoma State men's tennis, visit okstate.com or follow @CowboyTennis on social media.

#26 Oklahoma State 3, #29 UCF 4
Doubles Competition

Tyler Zink/Erik Schiessl (OSU) v. Yassine Dlimi/Paul Colin (UCF) 6-5 (unf.)
Isaac Becroft/Alessio Basile (OSU) def. Liam Branger/Lleyton Cronje (UCF) 6-3
Alex Garcia/Francisco Pini (OSU) def. Francisco Llanes/Santiago Giamichelle (UCF) 6-4