No. 14 OU Hosts Wichita State for Mid-Week Matinee

No. 14 Oklahoma vs. Wichita State

March 29, 2 p.m. CT | Headington Family Tennis Center

Norman, Okla.

Twitter

Scoring

2016 Stats

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR MATCH 16

THE MATCHUP

The 14th-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team will host unranked Wichita State on Tuesday, March 29 at 2 p.m. CT at the Headington Family Tennis Center. Tuesday's match will be Oklahoma's first against an unranked opponent since opneing the year with a win against Utah State and just its sixth against a team not ranked in top 20 by the ITA. The match will be played outdoors weather permitting. Forecasts call for a high near 70 degrees, cloudy skies and winds out of the south at 10 to 20 mph.

LAST TIME VS. THE SHOCKERS

The Sooners last saw WSU in 2015 when the Shockers came to Norman for OU's season opener. Oklahoma was dominant in the match, sweeping doubles 3-0 and then winning all but one singles match. Current Sooners Axel Alvarez, Alex Ghilea and Florin Bragusi all got singles and doubles wins in the match and Andrew Harris and Spencer Papa teamed to win in doubles.

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE

Wichita State enters the match at 13-8 and has won its last four matches. The Shockers currently rank third in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

SINGLES

No. 89 - Tin Ostojic

DOUBLES

No. 42 - Miroslav Herzan

No. 65 - Tin Ostojic/Jocelyn Devilliers

SOONERS RANKED

SINGLES

No. 32 - Axel Alvarez

No. 47 - Alex Ghilea

No. 91 - Papa Spencer

DOUBLES

No. 30 - Spencer Papa/Axel Alvarez

No. 50 - Alex Ghilea/Andrew Harris

SPLIT AT BNP PARIBAS

The Sooners had the Easter weekend off, but last weekend OU earned a split against a pair of ranked teams at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle in Indian Wells, Calif. Oklahoma fell 4-1 to No. 12 USC on the first day of play, but rebounded the following day with a 4-3 win over No. 14 California. Against the Golden Bears, OU won the doubles point, but with one match left the dual was knotted at 3-all. Ghilea delivered the clinching win by upsetting No. 10 Andre Goransonn at No. 3 singles to clinch the win for OU.

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 204 total wins (91 doubles, 113 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 eight 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. OU's match with Wichita State is just its sixth of the year against a team not ranked in the ITA top-20. With road matches against No. 1 UNC and No. 27 Tulsa, home matches against No. 4 Ohio State and No. 33 Memphis and a pair of matches against No. 13 Wake Forest under its belt, Oklahoma also travels to national contenders TCU, Oklahoma State and Texas and hosts Baylor and Texas Tech. OU will also played neutral site matches against defending NCAA national champion Virginia and perennial power USC.

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.