Sooners Fall to No. 12 USC at BNP Paribas Open

No. 15 USC

No. 15 Oklahoma

Results

2015 Stats

Photos

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The 15^th-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team fell 4-1 to No. 12 USC in its first day of play at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle on Saturday in Indian Wells, Calif.

“USC played very well today and they deserved to win,” head coach John Roddick said. “They played the big points well and took it to us. We'll have a chance to get back on track against a very good Cal team tomorrow.”

The Sooners started the dual by grabbing the first win of the day in doubles. Senior Axel Alvarez and junior Andrew Harris paired together for the first time this season to take down Nick Crystal and Laurens Verboven 6-2, but USC would win the other two doubles matches to clinch the point. Max de Vroome and Jake Devine paired to best junior Alex Ghilea and sophomore Spencer Papa 7-5 at the No. 2 spot, and Jack Jaede and Tanner Smith beat OU's freshman duo of Andre Biro and Max Mora by the same score at number three.

Trailing 1-0 after doubles, Oklahoma had mixed results early in singles. The Sooners took first sets on courts three, four and six, but gave up the opening frame on courts one, two and five.

USC put a second point on the board when No. 91 Thibault Forget grabbed a straight-sets win over Mora. OU's talented freshman fell 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles and moves to 8-4 on the year. The Trojans pushed their lead to 3-0 with a win at No. 2 singles where Ghilea fell 6-3, 7-5 to No. 35 Crystal.

Biro put the Sooners' lone point on the board. The freshman from Szeged, Hungary dropped the opening set of his match with Verboven at No. 6 singles 6-1, but rallied to sweep the second set 6-0 and then clinched the match with a 6-3 win in the third.

USC clinched the match when Devine toppled Papa at the three spot. Papa took the first set 6-2, but Devine won the second and third sets 6-4 to take the match. Alvarez led No. 32 de Vroome 5-4 in the third set at No. 1 singles when play was halted.

Oklahoma will be back in action on Sunday as they take on No. 14 California at 3 p.m. CT to wrap up the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle.

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

RESULTS

SINGLES

1. ^#32Max de Vroome vs. ^#41Axel Alvarez - 6-4, 4-6, 4-5 unfinished
2. ^#35Nick Crystal def. ^#99Alex Ghilea - 6-3, 7-5
3. Jake Devine def. Spencer Papa - 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
4.^#40Logan Smith vs. Florin Bragusi - 4-6, 6-3, 5-2 unfinished
5. ^#91Thibault Forget def. ^#92Max Mora - 6-2, 6-1
6. Andre Biro def. Laurens Verboven - 1-6, 6-0, 6-3

Order of finish: 5, 2, 6, 3

DOUBLES

1. Alvarez/Harris def. Crystal/Verboven - 6-2
2. de Vroome/Devine def.Ghilea/Papa - 7-5
3. Jade/Smith def. Biro/Mora - 7-5
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3