Sooners Face Ducks with Sweet 16 on the Line

Oregon

^#11Oklahoma

NCAA Second Round | Norman, Okla.
Headington Family Tennis Center

Recap

UT Arlington

¹¹Oklahoma

NCAA First Round | Norman, Okla.
Headington Family Tennis Center

Recap

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR NCAA FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS

MATCHUPS AT A GLANCE
	^#11Oklahoma	Oregon
2016 Record	15-10	18-7
2015 Result	29-3 (NCAA Final)	15-9
Singles Ranks	#25, #61, #82, #97	None
Doubles Ranks	#24, #39, #62	#42

THE MATCHUP

The Sooners take on Oregon Saturday at 1 p.m. CT in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Championship. The Sooners swept UT Arlington 4-0 on Friday to advance, while the Ducks upset Tulsa. The winner of Saturday's match will advance to the round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla.

Fans can purchase tickets for Saturday's match at the venue on the day of the competition, by calling the OU Athletics Tickets Office at (405) 325-2424 or by visiting the ticket office in person. Adult tickets are $5, while tickets for youth (ages 3-18), seniors (55+), OU students with valid ID and groups of 10 or more are $3 each.

SCOUTING THE DUCKS

Oregon's win over Tulsa on Friday was its first ever in the NCAA tournament. The Ducks took doubles from Tulsa and then after TU won at number one singles, rattled off three straight singles win to clinch. Oregon is 19-7 on the year and was selected to the tournament as an at-large selection.

DOUBLES
No. 42 - Jayson Amos/Armando Soemarno

SOONERS RANKED

Four Sooners find themselves in the ITA singles rankings this week as junior Andrew Harris finds himself in the poll. He joins Axel Alvarez, Alex Ghilea and Spencer Papa in the top 100.

SINGLES
No. 25 - Axel Alvarez
No. 61 - Alex Ghilea
No. 82 - Spencer Papa
No. 97 - Andrew Harris

DOUBLES
No. 24 - Axel Alvarez/Andrew Harris
No. 39 - Axel Alvarez/Spencer Papa
No. 62 - Alex Ghilea/Andrew Harris

Axel Alvarez celebrates the clinching point in the Sooners' win over TCU in their 2015 NCAA semifinal. Alvarez is now Oklahoma's all-time leader in career wins (213) and career singles wins (116)

AN ALL-TIMER

Senior Axel Alvarez won his singles match in the Sooners' opening match of the Big 12 Championship against Texas two weeks ago. The win put Alvarez in first place alone in Oklahoma history in career wins (213) and career singles wins (116). The senior will leave OU as perhaps the best Sooner tennis player in history. In addition to his records, a year ago he became the first Sooner ever to be named ITA National College Player of the year, collegiate tennis's highest individual award, was named Big 12 Player of the Year, became the first Sooner ever to be ranked No. 1 in singles and also the first ever to earn the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Singles Championship.

To read more about Alvarez's journey to OU, click here.

THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM?

Oklahoma has advanced to the NCAA final in each of the last two seasons, finishing as national runner-up. The Sooners are looking to make it three in a row and are determined to break through in 2016 and claim the program's first national title.

In 2016, the Sooners grabbed a dramatic 4-3 win over UCLA in the round of 16 before taking down Georgia in the quarterfinal. The semifinals round saw OU narrowly claim a 4-3 win over TCU with Alvarez winning his singles match in a second-set tiebreaker to clinch the match. Eventual national champion Virginia, a team the Sooners beat at home in the regular season, was too much for Oklahoma in the final, topping OU 4-1.

The Sooners' 2015 trip to the final was a program first. OU cruised through the first three rounds without giving up a point, before taking down North Carolina and UCLA 4-2 in each of the next two rounds. In the championship, the Sooners fell 4-2 to USC despite racing out to a 2-0 lead.

EARLY IMPACT

One reason for OU's success this season has been the singles play of its talent duo of freshmen, Andre Biro and Maxime Mora. The duo has racked up 14 and 13 wins, respectively, to lead the team. Biro, who has won two matches in a row and seven of his last nine completed matches, sits at 14-5 while Mora's record is 13-7. The duo also pairs in doubles, seeing action as OU's No. 3 team for much of the year.

RETURN TO FORM

Junior Andrew Harris has returned to singles play for Oklahoma and has done so in convincing fashion. Harris had been sidelined with a knee injury since the conclusion of the 2015 season. Since reentering the OU lineup, Harris has jumped out to a 4-1 record, including wins in each of his last four matches. His last win came at the No. 1 singles position against No. 45 Julian Cash of Oklahoma State in OU's regular-season finale. The junior did not appear in the Big 12 Championship.

Harris made his debut in the ITA singles rankings two weeks ago, appearing at No. 91. After sitting out the Big 12 Championship he is currently ranked No. 97. The Melbourne, Australia, native is looking to recapture his 2015 form. A year ago he rose as high as No. 5 in the ITA singles rankings and earned All-America honors in singles as well as being name the ITA National Player to Watch.

Andrew Harris hits a forehand in his singles match against Baylor. Harris is 4-1 since returning to singles play and has won four straight matches.

BIG 12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Sophomore Spencer Papa picked up his first career Big 12 Player of the Week honor on April 7. The Edmond, Okla., native won five total matches in a span of three duals, including two ranked wins in singles to push OU to a perfect 3-0 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.

BNP PARIBAS OPEN

The Sooners 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.

PLAYING IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Oklahoma will continue to lead collegiate tennis in televised matches this season, as the Sooners have already played four matches on live TV this season. 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 live on Fox against No. 4 Ohio State and Baylor. The Sooners also played live on ESPN3 in its win over No. 22 Florida State. The Sooners played a total of seven televised matches in 2015.

Sooners Face Ducks with Sweet 16 on the Line