Mens Tennis Tandem Advances to Quarterfinals at ITA Indoor Championships

COLUMBUS, Ohio Despite having competed together in only five matches before this week, Oklahoma men's tennis senior Alexei Ivanov and junior Marek Velicka cruised to a victory in the first round of the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday.

The duo faced Drew Eberly and Chris Klingemann of Ohio State and pulled off an 8-5 win.

“It was a really good match,” said Ivanov. “We got up fairly quickly, but it wasn't an easy win. We had to work for it.”

Ivanov and Velicka advance to quarterfinal play, which begins Friday at 8:30 a.m. The pair will go up against Boise State's Luke Shields and Thomas Schoeck, who produced a 6-1 record in October and are ranked the No. 4 doubles team in the ITA preseason rankings.

“We're excited to play them,” said Ivanov of the Boise State duo. “Without a doubt, they are a good team. But we're not going to let that distract us. We're going to go in with the same mindset and go out there and have fun.”

The Oklahoma tandem is the first doubles team to compete in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships since Michael Martinez and Michel Tremblay in 1991.