Oklahoma Readies For Pair of Weekend Matches

No. 14 Oklahoma at Wichita State

Friday, Feb. 10 || 6 p.m. CT

Headington Family Tennis Center || Norman, Okla.

Twitter |

Live Scoring

No. 14 Oklahoma at Alabama

Sunday, Feb. 12, || 1 p.m. CT

Headington Family Tennis Center || Norman, Okla.

Twitter |

Live Scoring

NOTES AND NUMBERS FOR WEEK FIVE

THE MATCHUPS

The Oklahoma men's tennis team looks to expand on its strong start to the 2017 season this weekend, with two home matches at the Headington Family Tennis Center. The Sooners will take on Wichita State at 6 p.m. CT on Friday and Alabama at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The matches can be followed via live scoring here.

SOONERS STREAKING

Head coach Nick Crowell has his team ranked No. 14 in the latest Oracle/ITA top 25 poll. Oklahoma is coming off three straight wins – two against ranked foes in Illinois and Michigan. Last weekend, the Sooners traveled to Fayetteville, Ark. where they defeated the Razorbacks, 5-2. In the win, senior Andrew Harris took down the country's third-ranked singles player Mike Redlicki, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, to clinch the dual for Oklahoma.

SCOUTING THE SHOCKERS

Wichita State enters the weekend 2-3, but will come to Norman with confidence following back-to-back wins over Pacific and Creighton. The Shockers won the Missouri Valley Conference last season, earning themselves an automatic NCAA Tournament bid, and the program has rattled off seven consecutive winning seasons. This year's squad returned four players who earned All-MVC honors in 2016.

SCOUTING THE TIDE

Alabama sits at 5-2 through its first seven matches, including three straight wins over Purdue, Texas Tech and Clemson. This weekend marks the Crimson Tide's first true road matches of the 2017 campaign, as they to Stillwater on Friday for a matchup with Oklahoma State before Sunday's showdown with the Sooners. The Tide are a young squad, with a combined seven freshmen and sophomores and only two seniors. Freshman Thibault Cancel and sophomore Mazen Osama are both featured in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings at No. 82 and No. 92, respectively.

HARRIS HAULING IN HONORS

Oklahoma's Harris has been playing some of the best tennis in the country this year, proven by the honors he has racked up in recent weeks. The Melbourne, Australia, native became the first player since Mate Zsiga (Baylor, 2012), to earn consecutive Big 12 Player of the Week awards. Wednesday, Harris went from unranked in singles to No. 29 – making him the ITA's Big Mover of the Week. Harris is now 5-1 in dual play singles on the year.

SOONERS JOINING THE RANKS

Two OU doubles tandems joined Harris as newcomers in the ITA rankings this week. The pair of Papa and Harris went from unranked to No. 42, while Papa and senior Alex Ghilea rose from unranked to No. 49. Papa is slotted at No. 24 nationally in singles, while senior Florin Bragusi, 4-1 in dual play, climbed 13 spots in the singles rankings to No. 105.

FOUR FRESH FACES

Four newcomers have made an appearance for Oklahoma already this season – freshmen Jochen Bertsch, Adrian Oetzbach and Arnaud Restifo along with sophomore A.J. Chamdani. The four have combined to go 10-3 in singles, and Bertsch, Chamdani and Oetzbach all have at least two doubles victories.

QUOTING COACH CROWELL:

On what makes his team so tough to beat:
“I think we're tough because we've got great leadership with three seniors (Bragusi, Ghilea, Harris) and one junior (Papa). They've seen a lot and have been through a lot. There's not a lot that they haven't been through in college, so they're providing great leadership.”

On what the newcomers have provided:
“Our young guys have brought a spark and energy that we needed early on. It's been great to have that spark of energy this season. Our team is a really tight-knit unit, and we're trying to become one group, one unit, and you can see that there's a real closeness within our group. We want to just keep that team chemistry going.

WHAT FANS NEED TO KNOW

There will be free pizza at both matches for fans in attendance. As always for regular season home matches, admission will be free throughout the weekend. The Oklahoma women's tennis team will also play prior to the men on Friday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m.

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

Oklahoma Readies For Pair of Weekend Matches