Sooners Host Crimson Tide Sunday

No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. T45 Alabama

Feb. 8, Noon | Headington Family Tennis Center

Norman, Okla

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NORMAN – The second-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team will be back at the Headington Family Tennis Center for a pair of top-50 matches this weekend.

The Sooners, who are off to a 4-0 start including a 3-0 mark at home, will host No. 25 South Florida (4-2) Friday night at 5:30 p.m. inside the Greg Wadley Indoor Pavilion. In a quick turn around, Oklahoma will then face No. T45 Alabama (2-3) Sunday at noon.

SOONERSPORTS.TV

Sunday will be the first of five televised matches for Oklahoma this season. The dual will be streamed live on soonersports.tv and then broadcast on Fox Sports Oklahoma on Monday at 5 p.m. Toby Roland and former Oklahoma head coach Paul Lockwood will be on the call.

SOONERS RANKED

Oklahoma began the season ranked No. 2 in the ITA preseason poll, the highest starting point in program history, and with a 4-0 start has lived up to that number. Additionally, four Sooners find themselves ranked inside the top-50 of the ITA's singles rankings. Oklahoma and Virginia are the only schools in the country to have four players ranked in the top-50. Junior Axel Alvarez is the highest ranked Sooner at No. 14, sophomore Andrew Harris comes in at No. 20, senior Dane Webb makes the list at No. 33 and sophomore Alex Ghilea sits at No. 50. The doubles duo of Alvarez and Webb also made the ITA doubles rankings at No. 38.

DOMINANT DUO

One reason for the Sooners' hot start is the play of Alvarez and Webb. As a doubles team the duo is an undefeated 7-0, including four wins in dual play and three wins versus top-20 opponents.

The pair is just as strong in singles. Alvarez is 6-1 on the year and 4-0 in dual play at the No. 2 spot. The junior from Asturias, Spain has a pair of wins against top-15 opponents with his lone loss came to No. 22 Winston Lin of Columbia in a hidden-dual at the MLK Invitational.

Webb's play has been similarly strong. The senior is 3-0 in dual play at the No. 3 spot including a momentum shifting, comeback win that propelled the Sooners to a win over No. 28 Northwestern.

AWESOME AUSSIE

Andrew Harris has been strong in the No. 1 position for the Sooners this season. The sophomore from Melbourne, Australia has run off a 3-1 record in dual play at the top spot.

Harris also had a busy preseason playing in pro tournaments in his home country. At the ATP Happy Valley Challenger in Onkaparinga, Harris ran off six wins to advance to the semi-finals round. Harris picked up wins against players ranked 187, 143 and 86 in the world before falling to 82^nd-ranked Marcos Baghdatis, a former Australian Open finalist and world No. 8.

The young Aussie continued his home tour by picking up another top-200 win in the qualifying draw at the Australian Open. Harris won a total of seven matches during his time in Australia.

SCOUTING REPORT: ALABAMA

Alabama comes to Norman hoping to break a three-game skid. The Crimson Tide were ranked No. 36 in the ITA's preseason poll, but have since fallen to No. 45 after losing three straight matches to top-50 teams. In losses to No. 37 Virginia Tech, No. 44 Oregon and No. 32 Florida State, the Tide won a total of three points, only one of which came in singles. Alabama does not have a player or doubles team in the current ITA rankings.

QUOTABLE

Oklahoma Head Coach John Roddick
“I want to see us go out and do the things we have been working on, and execute as well as possible. We don't get overly concerned with results necessarily. The only time we get concerned is when we aren't doing things the way we need to do them. If we do that the results usually take care of themselves. We talked a lot about that today, about taking care of the little things and controlling what we can control, and doing the best job we can do to execute on every point. If we do that we are usually very pleased with what happens.”

LAST TIME OUT

Oklahoma is fresh off its second top-25 win of the season Friday night. The Sooners dropped the doubles point to the 25th-ranked Bulls of South Florida, but won all six singles matches to win the dual 6-1.

LOOKING AHEAD

Following this weekend's matches the Sooners are headed to Chicago to take part in the 2015 ITA National Indoor Championships. The Sooners are one of 16 teams in the field by virtue of a pair of wins over No. 58 New Mexico and No. 26 Northwestern at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. This will be the third consecutive year that Oklahoma has qualified for the event. Last season the Sooners picked up a win over No. 22 Illinois in the first round, but then fell to second-ranked UCLA in round two.