Roddick's Bunch Grabs Ranked Road Win

No. 17 South Florida

No. 18 Oklahoma

2016 Stats

TAMPA, Fla. – The 18^th-ranked Oklahoma men's tennis team picked up its first ranked road win of the year on Friday, topping No. 17 South Florida 4-1 in Tampa, Fla. The Sooners dropped the doubles point, but won the first four singles matches finished to grab the victory.

“Spencer (Papa) played a great match from start to finish. He was really solid. On the other courts we competed as well as I've seen all season.”
- Head Coach John Roddick

“In singles we competed really well under some tough conditions with the heat and humidity,” head coach John Roddick said. “Spencer played a great match from start to finish. He was really solid. On the other courts we competed as well as I've seen all season.”

Junior Florin Bragusi put the Sooners' first point on the board. Facing Peter Bertran at the No. 4 spot, Bragusi controlled the match from the beginning. He gave up just three games to win in straight sets. With the win, Bragusi moved to 6-6 on the season.

Playing at the No. 2 spot, sophomore Spencer Papa turned in Oklahoma's next win. The Edmond, Okla., native bested No. 31 Dominic Cotrone 6-3, 6-4. Papa has now won three singles matches in a row and four out of his last five.

Shortly after Papa clinched his match, freshman Andre Biro turned in a win of his own at the six spot. Biro, who leads the Sooners in wins at 11, bested Everth Dzib in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. With a 3-1 lead at the halfway point of singles, the Sooners needed just one more win to clinch the match.

Freshman Max Mora played the role of clincher for the Sooners on Friday. Mora dropped the first set of his match with Ignacio Gonzalez at No. 5 singles, but rallied to take the second and force a decisive third set. Mora controlled the third set from the start. He jumped out to a 3-0 before ultimately finishing Gonzalez 6-2 to take the win and secure the victory for OU.

“Max did a good job of fighting back,” Roddick said. “He got down early but kind of came back and took control of the match. Those guys gave us wins early to get up 2-1 so we weren't down for a long, Mentally that's uplifting for the rest of the guys.”

The Sooners' Florida swing continues on Sunday, April 3 as OU heads north to take on No. 22 Florida State in an 11 a.m. CT showdown. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

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

RESULTS

DOUBLES

1. Gozun/Kalyuzhnyy def. Alvarez/Harris - 6-1
2. Cotrone/Bertran vs. Papa/Ghilea - 3-3 unfinished
3. Gonzalez/Cid def. Biro/Mora - 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 1

SINGLES

1. ^#5Roberto Cid vs. ^#32Axel Alvarez - 7-6, 5-7, 0-1 unfinished
2. ^#91Spencer Papa def. ^#31Dominic Cotrone - 6-3, 6-4

3. ^#47Alex Ghilea vs. Sasha Gozun - 7-6(13), 0-6, 3-4 unfinished

4. Florin Bragusi def. Peter Bertran - 6-2, 6-1

5. Max Mora def. Ignacio Gonzalez - 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

6. Andre Biro def. Dzib - 6-3, 6-4

Order of finish: 4, 2, 6, 5

RESULTS

DOUBLES

SINGLES

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Florin Bragusi

Alex Ghilea

Spencer Papa

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics