Sooners to Play for More Hardware Sunday

No. 28 Columbia

No. 1 Oklahoma

Results

Updated Draw

2015 Stats

He turned his match around and did a terrific job of clinching the match for us. Columbia really made us work hard today.
Head Coach John Roddick

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The top-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team picked up its 16^th win of the season and its sixth in a row Saturday afternoon when it topped No. 28 Columbia 4-2 in the semifinal round at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle.

The Sooners (16-1) got behind early by giving up the doubles point. OU got a win from their top pair but fell at No. 3 and then lost at No. 2 in a tiebreaker to trail 1-0 for the eighth time this season.

For the seventh time this season, it wouldn't matter.

Needing four matches to advance, Oklahoma won just three first sets in singles and looked, for a moment, to be in trouble. The Sooner were resilient, however, winning all three matches in which they took the first set, and senior Dane Webb overcame a first set loss to deliver the final point for the Sooners with a 6-7(5-7), 6-2, 6-3 win over Max Schnur at No. 3 singles.

“Dane did a terrific job for us,” Roddick said. “He turned his match around and did a terrific job of clinching the match for us. Columbia really made us work hard today.”

Andrew Harris, ranked No. 19, scored the first point of the day for OU. The sophomore from Melbourne, Australia bested No. 16 Winston Lin in straight-sets 6-2, 6-2 to even the match at 1-all. The win is Harris's 10^th of the year in dual play. Harris is now one of four Sooners with 10 or more wins in dual play, joining junior Axel Alvarez, sophomore Alex Ghilea and Webb.

Alvarez scored next for OU, giving the Sooners a 2-1 lead. The junior from Asturias, Spain picked up his team-leading 14^th win of the season in dual play and his 13^th in straight sets when he dispatched No. 83 Dragos Ignat 6-4, 6-1 in the number two spot. The highest ranked Sooner at No. 7, Alvarez has dropped just one set all year.

Edmond, Okla. native Spencer Papa made it three points in a row when he finished off Shawn Hadavi 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles. The freshman picked up his sixth dual play win of the year and snapped a four-match losing streak.

"Andrew did a great job not letting Lin into the match," Roddick said. "Axel and Spencer also did a great job of capitalizing on their opportunities."

In what turned out to be the only rematch of the day from the two schools' meeting in January, 6^th-ranked Alvarez and Webb topped the 20^th-ranked duo of Schnur and Ashok Narayana 6-4. The win was the Sooners' only in doubles play and is the pair's 12 of the season in dual play and seventh over a ranked opponent.

The win pushed OU to 16-1 on the season. The Sooners have made the most of grueling schedule, winning 10 matches over teams currently ranked in the ITA top-25 and nine over teams in the top-15.

By virtue of the win, the Sooners have earned a berth in the championship match Sunday at noon CT. In what could be a Big 12 Championship preview, the Sooners will tangle with third-ranked Baylor for the second time this season. Despite losing the doubles point, the Sooners defeated Baylor 4-2 in the semifinals round at the ITA National Indoor Championships en route to claiming the title.

For more information on Oklahoma Men's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @OU_MTennis.

RESULTS

DOUBLES

#6 Webb/Alvarez def. Schnur/Narayana 6-4
No. 57 Lin/Vermeer def. #69 Harris/Ghilea 7-6 (7-2)
Ignat/Vancura def. Papa/Bragusi 6-4

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2

SINGLES

#19 Andrew Harris def. #16 Winston Lin 6-2, 6-2
#7 Axel Alvarez def. #83 Dragos Ignat 6-4, 6-1
#26 Dane Webb def. Max Schnur 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-3
#53 Alex Ghilea vs. Ashok Narayana 4-6, 6-4, 2-3 DNF
Spencer Papa def. Shawn Hadavi 6-1, 6-3
Mike Vermeer def. Florin Bragusi 6-2, 6-4