Ghilea Delivers Win Over Golden Bears

No. 14 California

No. 15 Oklahoma

Results

2015 Stats

Photos

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The 15^th-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team toppled No. 14 California 4-3 on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle. Junior Alex Ghilea upset 10^th-ranked Andre Goransson at No. 3 singles in straight sets to clinch the win for OU.

"We played a very tough match against a really good Cal team," head coach John Roddick said. "We fought hard and pulled it out in the end. Alex had the biggest win of he collegiate career to clinch the match, so that was great to see."

Oklahoma opened the match with a pair of wins in doubles. Ghilea paired with sophomore Spencer Papa to take the down Goransson and Billy Griffith in the No. 2 spot. The Sooner duo was dominant, shutting out Cal, 6-0. The Golden Bears took the match at the top spot, but OU's freshman duo of Max Mora and Andre Biro teamed up to take down Mads Engsted and JT Nishimura 7-5 at No. 3 doubles. The win clinched the doubles point for the Sooners and gave Oklahoma an early 1-0 lead.

The doubles point proved crucial as the teams would split singles three matches a piece. Oklahoma's first win came at the six spot where Biro grabbed his second win of the tournament, knocking off Nishimura 6-3, 6-2. Biro also earned the Sooners' lone point in Saturday's match against USC. He improves to 10-4 on the year.

Papa scored the Sooners' third point of the day. Playing at No. 2 singles, Papa bested No. 37 Griffith in straight sets. He won the first set 6-3 and took the second in the tiebreaker.

Cal would take wins on courts one, four and five to level the dual at 3-all, with just court three remaining. At No. 3 singles, Ghilea had taken the first set of his match with Goransson, 7-5. The Neamt, Romania, native would finish off the upset, taking the second set 6-4 to clinch the dual for Oklahoma.

Ghilea's clinching win pushed OU to a weekend split at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle. The Sooners will have next weekend off before returning to action on Tuesday, March 29 when they will host Wichita State at the Headington Family Tennis Center in a 2 p.m. match.

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

RESULTS

SINGLES

1. ^#31Florian Lakat vs. ^#41Axel Alvarez - 7-6, 6-2
2. Spencer Papa def. ^#37Billy Griffith - 6-3, 7-6
3. ^#91Alex Ghilea def. ^#10Andre Goransson - 7-5, 6-4

4.Filip Bergevi def. Florin Bragusi - 7-6(2), 6-3
5. ^#52Oskar Wikberg def. ^#92Max Mora - 6-1, 6-2
6. Andre Biro def. JY Nishimura - 6-3, 6-2

Order of finish: 5, 6, 2, 1, 4, 3

DOUBLES

1. Bergevi/Lakat def. Alvarez/Harris - 6-2
2. Ghilea/Papa def. Goransson/Griffith - 6-0
3. Biro/Mora def. Engsted/Nishimura - 7-5
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

RESULTS

SINGLES

DOUBLES

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Players Mentioned

Florin Bragusi

Alex Ghilea

Spencer Papa

Spencer Papa

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics