Sooners Looking to Defend at BNP Paribas Open

¹⁵Oklahoma

¹²USC

March 19 | 3 p.m. CT | Indian Wells, Calif.

Recap

¹⁵Oklahoma

¹⁴California

March 20 | 3 p.m. CT | Indian Wells, Calif.

2016 Stats

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NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR MATCHES 14 & 15

MATCHUPS AT A GLANCE
	Oklahoma	USC	California
2016 Record	7-6	8-3	7-2
2015 Result	29-3 (NCAA Final)	25-5 (NCAA Quarterfinals)	19-9 (NCAA Second Round)
Singles Ranks	#41, #92, #99	#32, #35, #40, #91, #96, #101, #113	#10, #31, #37, #52
Doubles Ranks	#24, #46	#74, #80	#70

THE MATCHUP

The 15th-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team takes a Spring Break trip to Indian Wells, Calif., this weekend to defend its title at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle. The Sooners will take on No. 12 USC on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT and then No. 14 California on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT. Oklahoma won the event a year ago after notching wins over Purdue, Columbia and Baylor. There will be no live scoring or streaming for the matches. Forecasts call for temperatures in the low 90s with sunny skies and light winds.

LAST TIME VS. USC

The Sooners last saw Southern Cal a year ago at the ITA National Indoor Championship. OU faced the Trojans in the final, taking the match 4-2 to claim its first ever indoor national championship. After claiming the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, the Sooners got singles wins from Axel Alvarez, Alex Ghilea and Dane Webb to clinch the match.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS

USC enters the match with an 8-3 record that includes wins over Stanford and Tulsa and losses to Wake Forest, TCU and UCLA.

SINGLES
No. 32 – Max de Vroom
No. 35 – Nick Crystal
No. 40 – Logan Smith
No. 91 – Thibault Forget
No. 96 – Connor Farren
No. 101 – Kalman Boyd
No. 113 – Jake DeVine
DOUBLES
No. 74 - Crystal/Verboven
No. 80 – de Vroom/Jaede

LAST TIME VS. CAL

OU's match with California will be its first since taking on the Golden Bears in the back draw of the 2013 ITA National Indoor Championship. Oklahoma got the better of that meeting, winning 4-3, despite losing the doubles point.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS

Cal enters the match with a record of 7-2 and boasting wins over TCU, Texas and Stanford. The Golden Bears' lone losses came against Oklahoma State and Tulsa.

SINGLES
No. 10 – Andre Goransson
No. 31 – Florian Lakat
No. 37 – Billy Griffith
No. 52 – Oskar Wikberg
DOUBLES
No. 70 – Goransson/Lakat

CLOSE CALLS

The Sooners' last two matches both ended in defeat, but both came in the narrowest of margins and at the hands of a pair of top-5 teams. Oklahoma hosted No. 4 Ohio State on Sunday, March 6, and after trailing early, had a chance to take the match if it could extend the match at No. 4 singles. The Sooners trailed 3-1, but were close to victory on the other two courts before the Buckeyes held on to clinch the match.

Last week against Virginia, the Sooners put up three points on the Cavaliers, but couldn't find the fourth point they needed after dropping the doubles point. Virginia took wins at No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 singles to clinch the duel, but OU won at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6. The singles split meant UVA's doubles win was the deciding point. Even with the losses, OU has continued to raise its level of play and could soon see the return of Andrew Harris in singles. Harris, who was named the 2015 ITA National Player to Watch and finished 2015 ranked No. 8 in singles, is yet to play singles in 2016 as he deals with an injury.

CHASING HISTORY

Alvarez made history in the Sooners' leap day win over No. 28 Memphis. The senior picked up wins in singles and doubles to join 2015 graduate Dane Webb as just the second Sooner in program history to reach the 200-win mark for his career. Alvarez now boasts 203 total wins (91 doubles, 112 singles). The Sooners' top man is nearing a pair of OU records, needing just three wins in singles to tie Oliver Lorin's record for career singles wins (115) and just nine total wins to tie Webb's record for career wins (212).

PLAYING IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Oklahoma will continue to lead collegiate tennis in televised matches this season. Three of the Sooners' home matches will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and OU could see even more televised action if it makes a deep run in the postseason. In addition to its early-season match with Wake Forest, Oklahoma also played on live TV against No. 4 Ohio State and will do so again against No. 5 Baylor on April 15 at 6 p.m. CT. The Sooners played a total of seven televised matches in 2015.

BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Alvarez was named Big 12 Player of the Week on Feb. 24. The Asturias, Spain, native picked up a dominant, straight-sets win over No. 97 Carlos Bautista of No. 22 Tulsa to help propel the Sooners to a 4-1, road win a week ago. The honor was the first player of the week award this season for OU.

A RUGGED ROAD

After racking up 22 wins over teams ranked in the ITA top 30 a year ago, the Sooners are navigating another loaded schedule in 2016. With road matches against No. 2 UNC and No. 29 Tulsa, home matches against No. 4 Ohio State and No. 26 Memphis, a neutral site match against No. 1 Virginia and a pair of matches against No. 10 Wake Forest under its belt, Oklahoma also travels to national contenders No. 3 TCU, No. 6 Oklahoma State and No. 18 Texas and hosts No. 21 Baylor and No. 8 Texas Tech.

BIG 12 DYNASTY

The Sooners are seeking an unprecedented fifth consecutive conference title in 2016. Oklahoma earned a share of the regular season title in 2015 and then claimed its third Big 12 Tournament title in the last four years last four years (2012, 2013, 2015) with a pair of wins at the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas. After receiving a first-round bye, Oklahoma topped Texas 4-3 in the semifinal round to advance to the final where it would face Baylor for the fourth time on the year. In the final, the Sooners outlasted the Bears to win 4-3 and claim the Big 12 Championships title.

2015 AWARDS

OU pulled in an impressive haul of awards following the 2015 season. Axel Alvarez became the first Sooner ever to be named the ITA National College Player of the year, and just the second Sooner in history to be named the Big 12 Player of the Year, joining Costin Paval who won the award in both 2012 and 2013. Alvarez also became just the second Sooner to ever earn All-America honors in both singles and doubles in a single season. He was also named All-Big 12 in both singles and doubles.

For the fourth straight season, head coach John Roddick was named Big 12 Coach of the Year, sharing the honor with TCU's David Roditi. Sophomore Florin Bragusi added another honor for the Sooners as he was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Oklahoma has taken home the award in back-to- back years as Andrew Harris won it in 2014.

In addition to Big 12 awards, Harris was named ITA National Player to Watch. Harris earned the central region Rookie of the Year award in 2014 as a freshman. Harris also took home All-America honors in singles and All-Big 12 honors in both singles and doubles. Alex Ghilea rounded out Oklahoma's presence on the all-conference team by earning a place on the doubles team.

Sooners Looking to Defend at BNP Paribas Open