Completed Event: Men's Tennis versus Arkansas Futures on September 15, 2025
Final
Men's Tennis
vs Arkansas Futures
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Friday, February 13
Chicago
12:00 PM
University of Oklahoma
4
vs
1
Ole Miss
Freshman Comes Up Big in Win Over Ole Miss
February 13, 2015 | Men's Tennis
(15) Ole Miss
1
4
(2) Oklahoma
What an effort to come through that after losing his serve twice in the third and trailing 5-2 in the breaker. To to not let that bother him was impressive.
Head Coach John Roddick
CHICAGO -- The second-seeded Oklahoma men's tennis team advanced to the second round of play at the 2014 ITA National Men's Indoor Championships with a 4-1 win over 15-seed Ole Miss Friday afternoon at the Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago.
“Honestly, we need to do a lot of things better,” head coach John Roddick said. “Ole Miss played great, I don't want to take anything away from them at all. They played really hard. The level was high. We had one or two guys who need(ed) to perform better mentally. They let guys hang around. All in all, it was a great college tennis match. We had three matches left on at the end that were all 50-50. We needed one, so we were in the better position. I'm proud that we put ourselves in that position.”
For the fifth time this season the Sooners jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point.
At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Andrew Harris and freshman Spencer Papa gave the Sooners their first win. The duo topped Nicholas Scholtz and Zvonimir Babic 6-2. The clinching win came at No. 3 doubles where sophomores Alex Ghilea and Jose Salazar bested Stefan Lindmark and Grey Hamilton 6-4. The 5th-ranked duo of Axel Alvarez and Dane Webb led Gustav Hannson and William Kallberg 5-4 at No. 1 doubles when Ghilea and Salazar clinched. The match was not finished.
The Rebels grabbed first sets in four matches to start singles, but the Sooners took second sets on five courts to regain control. Webb and Ghilea were the only Sooners to win first sets, and both won their matches in straight sets. Webb, ranked No. 31, topped Gustav Hansson 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 3 spot to put the Sooners up 2-0. Ghilea was next to finish, posting a 7-5, 6-3 win over Zvonimir Babic at No. 5 singles. Ghilea's result put Oklahoma up 3-0 with five matches to play, needing just one more win to advance.
At No. 1 singles, Andrew Harris dropped just his second match of the year, losing to Nicholas Scholtz 6-7, 2-6. The win gave Ole Miss its only point of the dual and brought the score to 3-1 in favor of OU.
The remaining three matches all went to third sets. At No. 2 singles, Alvarez was serving to force a tiebreak and Salazar had just forced a third set at No. 6 when Papa delivered the winning point. The freshman from Edmond, Okla. dropped his first set with William Kallberg, but fought back to control the second 6-2. The third and deciding set was a close one, but Papa prevailed 10-8 in a tiebreak to take the set 7-6 and claim the match and the clinching point for the Sooners.
Sometimes you go into matches where you know if the other team plays better you could still get the win, but tomorrow is not one of those.”
Head Coach John Roddick
“He was really impressive,” Roddick said of Papa. “He's been working on a lot of things, so he's had a lot of newer information. Sometimes that hurts a guy short-term, but he's really figured out some ways to win matches while also getting better as a tennis player. Today, he beat a guy who's a senior and has probably been in that situation 15-20 times. What an effort to come through that after losing his serve twice in the third and trailing 5-2 in the breaker. To to not let that bother him was impressive.”
Playing in clinch format Alvarez and Salazar did not finish their matches.
In the second round of play, the Sooners will face 7th-seeded North Carolina Saturday at noon. The Tar Heels (9-1) are ranked 7th by the ITA and currently roster four players ranked in singles and one in doubles. OU last saw North Carolina last May when it knocked off UNC 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA National Team Championships. Oklahoma would go on to finish as the national runner-up.
“We know them pretty well,” Roddick said. “We just played them in the quarters of NCAA's last year and they have a lot of the same team here. Tomorrow is going to be one of those matches where there's not a big favorite. Whoever plays better is going to win the match. Sometimes you go into matches where you know if the other team plays better you could still get the win, but tomorrow is not one of those.”
For complete coverage of the 2015 ITA National Men's Indoor Championships, click here.
For more information on Oklahoma Men's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @OU_MTennis.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
No. 5 Axel Alvarez/Dane Webb vs. No. 55 Gustav Hansson/William Kallberg 5-4, DNF
Spencer Papa/Andrew Harris def. Nicholas Scholtz/Zvonimir Babic 6-2
Jose Salazar/Alex Ghilea def. Stefan Lindmark/Grey Hamilton 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
Nicholas Scholtz def. No. 26 Andrew Harris 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
No. 11 Axel Alvarez vs. No. 80 Stefan Lindmark 3-6, 6-4, 5-6, DNF
No. 31 Dane Webb def. Gustav Hansson 6-2, 6-4
Spencer Papa def. William Kallberg 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8)
No. 63 Alex Ghilea def. Zvonimir Babic 7-5, 6-3
Jose Salazar vs. Vinod Gowda 5-7, 6-6, DNF
Order of finish: 3, 5, 1, 4
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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