Ghilea, Papa March On In Doubles at Regionals

STILLWATER, Okla. -- The Oklahoma men's tennis team began action Thursday at the 2016 ITA Regional Championships Presented by Oracle in Stillwater, Okla. All five Sooners participating in the Central Region Championships were on the courts Thursday.

Senior Alex Ghilea and junior Spencer Papa both received round-one byes in singles, as they will begin singles action tomorrow, but Oklahoma's tandem was geared up Thursday morning for doubles play. The two, who received a first-round bye in doubles as well, took care of business in the round of 32 against Michal Kianicka and Wilder Pimentel of Southern Illinois with an 8-4 victory.

“They did a really good job of breaking early in the match, staying focused and extending their lead,” Oklahoma head coach Nick Crowell said. “It was a great way to get the tournament started.”

Ghilea and Papa will matchup against Iowa's pairing of Robin Haden and Jake Jacoby tomorrow morning in a quarterfinals berth.

Oklahoma's second doubles tandem on the day, senior Florin Bragusi and redshirt sophomore John Milstead, earned a win in the first round over Uldis Gaismins and Amaury Navette of UMKC. The two fought back from a break down twice to take the match, 9-8.

Also in action was a fresh face to the Sooner tennis team, Mason Bridegan. The walk-on junior fell just short in a competitive match to Iowa's Jason Kerst, 6-4, 6-4.

“We were very impressed with Mason's ability on the court to come out in his first collegiate event and have a strong showing against a good opponent from Iowa,” Crowell said. “He was very competitive throughout the whole match. With a little more experience and practice over the next couple months, I expect Mason to be winning those matches.”

In another tight match, Bragusi and Milstead would end up falling in second round doubles to Marino Alpeza and Stefan Milicevic of Minnesota, 7-9. Milstead dropped a three-setter to Arkansas' Branch Terrell, 2-6, 6-2, 2-6, in the first round of singles play.

Friday features Bragusi, Ghilea and Papa taking the courts for second round singles action after their round-one byes. Additionally, Ghilea and Papa will look to continue their run in doubles.

“Those three guys are great players, and they are very experienced in playing at a high level,” Crowell said. “I'm looking for them to come out and establish themselves in this tournament, hopefully capitalizing on opportunities when they come and just taking it point-by-point.”

Bragusi's first singles opponent will be Michael Sosnowski of Oral Roberts. Papa matches up with another in-state opponent, Chase Gordon of Tulsa. Ghilea is slated to take on John Nogalski of St. Louis.

All matches will be streamed live on okstate.com/watchtennis. For more information, follow @OU_MTennis on twitter.