Oklahoma Falls to Top-Ranked Buckeyes

¹ Ohio State

⁴ Oklahoma

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Oklahoma men's tennis team dropped to 10-3 on the season Sunday afternoon, falling to No. 1 Ohio State 4-0 in Columbus, Ohio, at the OSU Varsity Tennis Center.

Ohio State entered the day 14-1, having won every home match since Oklahoma defeated the Buckeyes, 4-3, in 2015. That win broke Ohio State's 200-match home win streak, which still stands as the NCAA all-sport record.

The Sooners, ranked fourth in the nation, fought the Bucks hard for the doubles point even in the absence of senior Andrew Harris. OU's duo of junior Spencer Papa and senior Florin Bragusi took down Ohio State's tandem of No. 20 Mikael Torpegaard and Herkko Pollanen, 6-2, at No. 1 doubles to give the Sooners an early edge.

"We are playing some of the best competition in the country every week, and that will continue to make us stronger as we head into the second half of the season."
- Head Coach Nick Crowell

Ohio State fought from behind to capture wins at lines two and three doubles over the Sooners' pairings of Alex Ghilea/Adrian Oetzbach and Jochen Bertsch/Mason Bridegan.

"Today was a tough fight," OU head coach Nick Crowell said. "We had chances to win doubles. We had a big win at No. 1 and had breaks at No. 2 and 3. Our energy was great and I liked how we came out taking it to the Buckeyes early."

The Buckeyes carried their momentum over to singles, where they would take the first three points to clinch and win the match, 4-0. The Sooners fought hard at the top of the lineup, however, as Papa took the No. 1 player in the country, Torpegaard, to a first set tiebreaker, Ghilea took his opening set at the No. 2 spot over JJ Wolf, and Bragusi won his second set over No. 3 Hugo Di Feo.

"The singles hinged on just a few points at the end of the first sets," Crowell said. "We won some of them, but they won more. We'll continue to grow as a team and today will make us stronger going forward."

Both Bragusi and Ghilea, along with the freshman Oetzbach, went unfinished in singles. Ohio State's three singles points came at the No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 positions.

"We are playing some of the best competition in the country every week, and that will continue to make us stronger as we head into the second half of the season," Crowell added.

All three of OU's losses this year have come against top-five opponents – then-No. 2 Wake Forest and Ohio State (twice).

The squad will return home for a week of practice before their final home non-conference match of the season versus Cornell on March 12 at noon. Oklahoma is unbeaten at the Headington Family Tennis Center this year with seven wins.

As always, admission to regular season matches is free for all fans. For more information on Oklahoma men's tennis, follow the team on Twitter @OU_MTennis.

Players Mentioned

Jochen Bertsch

Florin Bragusi

Mason Bridegan

Alex Ghilea

Andrew Harris

Adrian Oetzbach

Spencer Papa

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics