University of Oklahoma Athletics

Avdeyev Falls in Tulsa

Five Sooners to Take Court Friday

October 16, 2008 | Men's Tennis

Oct. 16, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma men's tennis team opens play Friday at the ITA Central Regional Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

Five Sooners-- Sergey Avdeyev, Ionut Beleleu, Blake Boswell, George Chanturia and Andrei Daescu-- begin play Friday, Oct. 17, in the main singles draw.

All five Sooners appeared last week's ITA All-American in Tulsa, bringing home a collective 9-4 singles record.

ITA No. 22 Daescu lost in his first singles match of the event, but rallied back to take two in a row in consolation before falling to Texas Tech's Raony Carvalho, 6-1, ret.

Going into ITA pre-qualifying with a 3-0 singles record, Beleleu recorded four straight wins, extending his unbeaten streak to seven, before bowing to Florida's Carlos Cuento.

No. 122-rated Avdeyev, the lone senior on the 2009 team, fell one victory short of reaching the main singles draw at the All-American.

The ITA Central Region features players from 11 schools: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Wichita State, Tulsa, St. Louis, UM-Kansas City, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Nebraska and Drake.

The top two singles players and doubles champions qualify for the ITA National Indoor Championships, which begin Nov. 6, in Charlottesville, Va.

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