Men's Tennis Set For Longhorns At Big 12 Championships

April 24, 2003

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Sooner Men Set For Longhorns At Big 12 Championships
The No. 75 Oklahoma men's tennis team (15-9, 1-6 Big 12) begins postseason play at the Big 12 Championships on Friday, April 25, at the Plaza Tennis Center in Kansas City, Mo. Play is scheduled to run through Sunday, April 27. The Sooners received a No. 7 seed and are slated to play No. 2 seed and 13th-ranked Texas at 2 p.m.

The Longhorns beat the Sooners, 7-0, earlier this season at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman. UT is 16-5 on the season and 6-1 in Big 12 play. If the Sooners advance they will face the winner of the Oklahoma State-Colorado match.

Oklahoma Edges Buffs For Conference Victory
Oklahoma posted a huge 4-3 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes last Saturday (April 19) for their first conference win of the season. OU claimed two of three in doubles to win the doubles point for the 13th time this spring. OU senior Chris Mitchell (Tulsa, Okla.) and freshman Tommy Garrison (Enid, Okla.) notched their 13th win at No. 1 while Sooners Matt Long (Fort Worth, Texas) and Alexei Ivanov (Izhevsk, Russia) won their 11th match at No. 2.

Sooner freshman Ivanov won his seventh victory at No. 1 singles while Garrison claimed a third-set tie-breaker at No. 6 to tie the team score at 3-3. Long overcame a 5-2 deficit in the third set of his match at No. 5 to win the match for the Sooners.

Sooner Leaders
Leading the Sooners in singles is senior Chris Mitchell (Tulsa, Okla.), who sports a combined record of 13-9. Freshman Alexei Ivanov is 5-2 at No. 2 singles and senior Matt Ogle is a combined 8-3 at the No. 4 and 5 positions.

Mitchell and freshman Tommy Garrison (Enid, Okla.) have combined for a 13-6 mark at No. 1 doubles this spring. The duo has been solid since paring up last Fall sporting an overall record of 20-8. Ivanov and Matt Long have started the last 10 matches at No. 2 doubles and have won nine of them to move to 17-4 overall.

OU Doubles Pair Second Best At No. 2 In Big 12 Sophomore Matt Long and freshman Alexei Ivanov narrowly missed winning the No. 2 doubles position championship. The duo combined for a 4-2 mark against Big 12 competition this spring. They finished 11-2 overall at No. 2.

Big 12 Names Five Sooners To Academic Team
The Big 12 Conference office named five Oklahoma men's tennis players to the 2003 All-Big 12 team on Tuesday. Alex Nomicos (Targoviste, Romania), Matt Lopez (Enid, Okla.) and Chris Mitchell were named to the first team, while senior Matt Ogle (Tulsa, Okla.) and Matt Long made the second team.

Head Coach Paul Lockwood
Paul Lockwood is in his 16th year as OU's head men's tennis coach. Lockwood has experienced success with his teams over the years both on and off the court. He has compiled a 234-153 (.605) overall record and claimed the Big Eight Conference title in 1992. Lockwood was named the Big Eight Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1992 for his outstanding efforts. Lockwood's teams have also earned five consecutive Academic ITA All-America honors (1996-97 - 2000-01).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Tennis Set For Longhorns At Big 12 Championships

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