Seven Wins Start Sooners Off Strong

ATHENS, Ga. – The Oklahoma men's tennis team began its season on a strong note Friday at the Southern Intercollegiate Championship in Athens, Ga., as all four Sooners in action earned opening-round victories in singles and three advanced to the round of 16 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.

"All the guys fought through some adversity today, but came out on top."
— Head Coach Nick Crowell

"Overall we had a great start to the tournament and the season," head coach Nick Crowell said." All the hard work we have been putting in really showed and is paying off. It was great to see John Milstead win his first round. All the guys fought through some adversity today but came out on top."

Senior Alex Ghilea got it going early for the Sooners, battling back from a first-set defeat against Alex Dominguez of Kentucky to win the match 1-6, 7-5, 6-4. Ghilea followed up his opening-round victory with a win in the round of 32 against Georgia State's Zach Kennedy, 6-3, 6-2. Ghilea is set to take on the tournament's No. 14 seed Cameron Klinger of Virginia on Saturday at 10 a.m. CT for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Redshirt sophomore Spencer Papa topped Enzo Wallart of Kentucky, 6-3, 6-2, to earn his first victory of the year. In perhaps the Sooners' best win of the day, Papa, the No. 11 seed, then took down Walker Duncan of host school Georgia in the round of 32. Papa trailed by a break and 4-2 in the first set but rallied to win the next four games to take the set. He went on to win the match with a 6-3 mark in the second frame. He will see No. 3 seed Daniel Vallant of Vanderbilt in the round of 16 at 10 a.m. CT on Saturday.

Senior Florin Bragusi took care of business in the first round with a tight three-set win over Georgia Tech's Andrew Li, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Bragusi then knocked off Big 12 foe Ronit Bisht of Texas Tech in the second round. Bisht is currently ranked No. 848 in the world by the ATP and is ranked No. 2 among collegiate newcomers by the ITA. Bragusi will see fifth-seeded Piotr Lomacki of Miami at 10 a.m. CT Saturday morning for a berth in the quarterfinals.

Additionally, redshirt sophomore John Milstead topped Colin Hart of Eastern Kentucky 6-1, 6-1 in the opening round before falling to Lipscomb's Victor Chaw 4-6, 3-6 in the second round.

The Sooners will also have two sets of doubles pairs in action Saturday in Ghilea/Papa and Bragusi/Milstead. Ghilea and Papa are the tournament's 3^rd-seeded doubles pairing, and they will have an opening round bye before facing the victor of Bisht/Johan Cailleau of Texas Tech and David Durham/Drew Wendel of Kennesaw State. Bragusi and Milstead will play Kentucky's Trey Yates/EnzoWallart at 8 a.m. CT.