Men's Tennis Begins Home Stretch Against No. 46 OSU

April 8, 2003

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The Oklahoma men's tennis team (12-8, 0-5 Big 12) returns home for their final home matches of the season at the OU Headington Family Tennis Center. The Sooners continue conference play tomorrow (April 9) against rival No. 46 Oklahoma State. Match time is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Sooners will be looking for their first conference victory on the season.

The Cowboys are fresh of a 4-3 upset over No. 26 Rice. That win upped their overall mark to 9-3. OSU is 2-2 in conference play with a pair of home wins over Nebraska and No. 9 Texas A&M. Last season, the Cowboys barely edged Oklahoma, 4-3, in Stillwater. The Cowboys took all three doubles matches as well as the top three singles positions to seal the win.

OU takes a break from conference action this weekend when the Sooners play host to No. 71 Texas-Arlington on Saturday, April 12, at 11 a.m. UTA is 10-5 overall and 5-0 in the Southland Conference. The Sooners are back in action on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Saint Louis. The Billikens are 8-10 on the season and 2-5 in Conference USA.

Sooner Men Drop Heartbreaker To Huskers
Nebraska played one of their best matches of the season as they held off an Oklahoma rally to defeat the Sooners, 4-3, last Saturday at the Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln, Neb. OU barely missed winning the doubles point as NU claimed the No. 1 and 3 positions to take the early lead. The Sooners did pick up a victory at No. 2 where sophomore Matt Long (Fort Worth, Texas) and freshman Alexei Ivanov (Izhevsk, Russia) beat NU's DJ Geatz and Jecek Wolicki, 8-5.

The Sooners posted three straight-set victories in singles. Sooner senior Matt Ogle (Tulsa, Okla.) beat Joel Reckewey, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 4 while Alex Nomicos (Targoviste, Romania) outlasted Husker Patrick Kennedy, 6-4, 7-6, at No. 5. OU's Garrison dominated Jeff Nabity, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 6 for Oklahoma's final point.

The Huskers had victories at the No. 1 and 2 positions to tie the score at 3-3. OU sophomore Silviu Tanasoiu (Sibiu, Romania) pushed his match at No. 3 against Wolicki to a third set but fell, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, giving NU the decisive point.

Leading The Sooners
Leading the Sooners in singles is senior Chris Mitchell (Tulsa, Okla.), who sports a combined record of 11-7 at No. 1 and 2 singles. Freshman Alexei Ivanov is 5-2 at No. 2 singles and senior Matt Ogle has won two of his last three.

Mitchell and freshman Tommy Garrison (Enid, Okla.) have combined for a 10-5 mark at No. 1 doubles this spring. The duo has been nearly solid since paring up last Fall sporting an overall record of 17-7. Ivanov and Matt Long have started the last six matches at No. 2 doubles and have won five of them to move to 12-5 overall.

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 231-152 (.603) 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 also earned five consecutive Academic ITA All-America honors from the 1996-97 season to the 2000-2001 season.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Men's Tennis Begins Home Stretch Against No. 46 OSU

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