Oklahoma Ready For Action at Regionals

STILLWATER, Okla. – The Oklahoma men's tennis team is set to begin play in Stillwater on Thursday for the prestigious 2016 ITA Regional Championships Presented by Oracle, hosted by Oklahoma State University.

Oklahoma head coach Nick Crowell will send five players – Florin Bragusi, Mason Bridegan, Alex Ghilea, John Milstead and Spencer Papa – to Stillwater for his group's third tournament of the fall season. Including Oklahoma, 16 schools will have players represented at the Central Region Championships.

"We've gotten back into our normal routines in these last 10 to 12 days. We're feeling really good and we should be ready to go for this tournament.”
- Head coach Nick Crowell

Doubles play will begin Thursday morning at 9 a.m. CT, while singles action is slated to kick off at 1 p.m. The five Sooners sent to Stillwater will all participate in singles play. Bragusi, Ghilea and Papa each received first-round byes in singles action into the round of 64.

Ghilea is looking to continue his dominance from last year at the 2015 ITA Regional Championships, where he won the Central Region Singles Championship over Oklahoma State's Julian Cash. The win made it six consecutive years a Sooner captured the singles title in the event.

“He's been working hard every day and having good practices,” Crowell said. “He played well in Tulsa last week – he had two really tough opponents. There are some small things in his game that we're working on, and I think he's ready to go.”

Bridegan and Milstead will be on the courts in singles for the round of 128. Milstead meets up with Branch Terrell of Arkansas in round one to begin his weekend. Bridegan, a walk-on and new addition to the team, will face Iowa's Jason Kerst in the opening round.

In doubles, the pair of Ghilea and Papa received an automatic bye into the round of 32. They will square up against Michal Kianicka and Wilder Pimentel of Southern Illinois on Thursday afternoon. Earlier in the season, Ghilea and Papa reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga.

Pimentel is coming off a 2015-16 season where he went 28-8 in singles and 15-6 in doubles with partner Alex Pozo. Kianicka is a former member of the Slovakian national team, and he was named MVC Freshman of the Year as a Saluki in the 2013-14 year.

Also on the courts for the Sooners in doubles will be the duo of Bragusi and Milstead. They matchup in the round of 64 against UMKC's pairing of Uldis Gaismins and Amaury Navette.

“When we got back from Athens, we only had four or five days to prepare for Tulsa,” Crowell said. "We've gotten back into our normal routines in these last 10 to 12 days. We're feeling really good and we should be ready to go for this tournament.”