OU Sweeps Utah State to Open Kick-Off Weekend

Utah State

No. 2 Oklahoma

NORMAN – No. 2 Oklahoma men's tennis picked up its first regular season win of 2016 with a 4-0 sweep of Utah State on Saturday at the Gregg Wadley Indoor Pavilion in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

“It was good. First match out, we didn't have very many mental lapses,” head coach John Roddick said following the win. “Over the last two years, we've had to talk about that a lot. I felt like today was pretty solid, especially considering today was the first match. We were pretty disciplined today, which is nice to see this early.”

“First match out, we didn't have very many mental lapses. Over the last two years, we've had to talk about that a lot. I felt like today was pretty solid, especially considering today was the first match. We were pretty disciplined today, which is nice to see this early.”
— John Roddick

OU jumped out quickly to a 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point. Axel Alvarez and Spencer Papa finished first for the Sooners with a 6-2 victory at the No. 1 line. Andre Biro/Maxine Mora clinched the doubles point for OU with a 6-4 win on court three.

In singles, Biro quickly gave OU a 2-0 advantage after defeating Utah State's Romai Ugarte, 6-0, 6-1, at the No. 5 line. The victory gave the freshman his first dual match win as a Sooner.

No. 91 Alex Ghilea grabbed a straight-set win and topped the Aggies' Jack Swindells 6-3, 6-1 to put the Sooners one point away from clinching the match. Papa sealed the match in favor of the Sooners, topping Utah State's Jonas Maier with a 6-3, 6-4 win on court two.

Leading 4-0, OU rolled to three more singles wins to sweep the Aggies. 60^th-ranked Alvarez rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 victory at the top of the lineup. Florin Bragusi defeated Utah State's Samuel Serrano, 6-3, 6-3, on court four, while Mora provided a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory on court six for the Sooners to secure the 7-0 win.

With the victory, the Sooners (1-0) advance to the championship match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend and will face No. 64 Troy (1-3) on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT. The winner will advance to the National Team Indoor Championships.

UTSA and Utah State will play in a consolation match at 10 a.m. CT.

RESULTS

DOUBLES

1. Axel Alvarez Llamas/Spencer Papa def. Andrew Nakajima/Luis Lopez (USU) 6-2
2. Alex Ghilea/Austin Siegel def. Jaime Barajas/Samuel Serrano (USU) 5-4
3. Andre Biro/Maxime Mora def. Jack Swindells/Jonas Maier (USU) 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 3

SINGLES

1. ^#60Axel Alvarez Llamas def. Jaime Barajas (USU) 6-3, 5-2 unfinished
2. Spencer Papa def. Jonas Maier (USU) 6-3, 6-4
3. ^#91Alex Ghilea def. Jack Swindells (USU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Florin Bragusi def. Samuel Serrano (USU) 6-3, 3-2 unfinished
5. Andre Biro def. Romai Ugarte (USU) 6-0, 6-1
6. Maxime Mora def. Andrew Nakajima (USU) 4-6, 6-1 unfinished

Order of Finish: 5, 3, 2