Papa Named Big 12 Player of the Week

NORMAN – For the second time in his career, Oklahoma junior Spencer Papa has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday. Papa's honor makes Oklahoma a three-time owner of the award this year, as Andrew Harris won the award in back-to-back weeks on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

Following his win at National Indoors over Florida's Alfredo Perez, the nation's ninth-ranked singles player, Papa took down another top-25 singles opponent by beating Tulsa's 25^th-ranked Or Ram-Harel in OU's 7-0 sweep of the Golden Hurricane on Friday night.

With the absence of senior Andrew Harris, Papa was back at No. 1 singles, where he entered the day at 2-1 on the season. After cruising in the first set to a 6-1 win, Papa, ranked No. 24 in singles, dropped the second set 3-6. The two top 25-foes headed to a third set, which eventually went to a tiebreaker, to decide the match.

"Spencer has been putting in some serious work and he's been playing to win. He had a great win Friday night and he really showed resiliency fighting off a few match points."
- Head Coach Nick Crowell

The tiebreaker was tight throughout, with neither player going up by more than three points, but Ram-Harel put Papa down to match point three times late in the extra frame. Papa fought off all three match points and won the breaker 10-8 to earn his second top-25 singles win in five days.

"Spencer has been putting in some serious work and he's been playing to win," OU head coach Nick Crowell said. "He had a great win Friday night and he really showed resiliency fighting off a few match points."

In doubles, Papa and freshman Jochen Bertsch earned their first doubles win playing together, defeating Tulsa's Okkie Kellerman and Dominic Bechard 6-3 at the No. 1 spot. The win pushed Papa, an Edmond, Okla., native to 7-4 in doubles on the year.

The dual win extended the now 4th-ranked Sooners' record to 11-2 on the season, with the squad remaining unbeaten at home with seven wins. Additionally, Oklahoma's three player of the week awards in 2017 lead the conference. Papa's first career Big 12 Player of the Week honor came last year for the week of April 6, thanks to wins over Dominic Cotrone of USF and a defeat of No. 60 Marco Nunez in the Sooners win against then-No. 22 Florida State.

Oklahoma will next be in action on Sunday, March 5 in Columbus, Ohio, for a top-five showdown versus the nation's No. 1 team, Ohio State, at 11 a.m. CT. The Sooners won each of their past two matchups against top-10 opponents, Florida and Northwestern.

OU last went to Columbus in 2015 when they took the No. 1 ranking to take on the No. 8 Buckeyes. The Sooners won a 4-3 contest, snapping Ohio State's 200-match home win streak which stands as the all-time collegiate varsity sport record. Oklahoma's win was the first in Columbus since then-No. 1 Illinois topped the Buckeyes 5-2 on April 5, 2003. The squad will return to the Headington Family Tennis Center on March 12 to face Cornell at noon.

For more information on Oklahoma men's tennis, follow the team @OU_MTennis.