OU Opens Big 12 Play with Baylor, TTU at Home

¹⁶Oklahoma vs. ¹⁹Baylor

April 6 | 6 p.m. CT | Headington Family Tennis Center

Live Scoring

Twitter

¹⁶Oklahoma vs.²⁹Texas Tech

April 8 | 11:30 a.m. CT | Headington Family Tennis Center

Live Scoring

Twitter

NORMAN – The No. 16 Oklahoma men's tennis team opens Big 12 play Friday as it hosts No. 19 Baylor at 6 p.m., followed by a clash with No. 29 Texas Tech on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

The weekend will mark OU's final regular season matches at the Headington Family Tennis Center in 2018.

Oklahoma

No. 16 OU enters the weekend at 15-2 on the year. In their last contest, the Sooners picked up a 4-2 road victory over No. 41 Cornell in the final non-conference test of the season. OU won the doubles point for the fifth straight match, and Alex Bakshi, Ferran Calvo and Jake Van Emburgh all grabbed singles wins to lift Oklahoma over Cornell, avenging OU's 4-3 loss to the Big Red in 2017 in Norman.

Three Sooners made the latest ITA singles rankings. Calvo is No. 60; Bakshi checks in at No. 85; and Jake Van Emburgh is ranked 105.

Bakshi continues to lead the Sooners from the No. 1 line with a record of 9-2. The junior was named Big 12 Player of the Week this week, marking OU's first conference honor of the season.

Calvo owns a 6-5 record on courts one, two, three and four, and Van Emburgh leads the Sooners in singles wins at 11-2 on the year. Van Emburgh is currently riding a three-match winning streak.

In doubles, Calvo and Adrian Oetzbach are ranked 62nd nationally, and are 5-1 on the year. The duo has clinched the doubles point for OU in the last two matches. The Sooners have won the opening point in its last five consecutive matches.

Scouting Baylor

No. 19 Baylor comes into Friday's contest at 17-4 on the year, following a doubleheader sweep in its last competition. The Bears took down Incarnate Word, 5-2, and 7-0, in Waco, to maintain a 13-0 record at home.

The Baylor roster features two ranked singles players: Bjorn Peterson is No. 44 with a record of 8-8 between courts one and two, while Johannes Schretter checks in at No. 67 with an 11-4 mark from the No. 1, 2 and 3 lines.

Four more Baylor players have 10 wins or more. Constantin Frantzen is 10-2 on the back three courts. Sven Lah owns an 11-4 mark on courts two, three, four and five. Matias Soto is 11-3 including a 6-0 record from the No. 3 line. Roy Smith is 11-2 overall, playing primarily at the six spot.

In the last meeting between the teams, Baylor edged OU, 4-3, in Waco. The Bears took a 3-1 lead in the match before Oklahoma answered and tied the contest at 3-3, but it was Baylor that prevailed after a win in a wild, three-set match on court six (7-5, 5-7, 7-5) that sealed the victory for the Bears.

OU leads the all-time series with Baylor, 28-21, and is 7-3 in its last ten contests with the Bears.

Scouting Texas Tech

No. 29 Texas Tech enters Sunday's matchup at 17-5 overall. In their last contest, the Red Raiders blanked Northwestern, 4-0, at home.

Tommy Mylnikov is Texas Tech's representative in the ITA singles rankings at No. 108 nationally. Mylnikov is 6-5 in the top slot.

Ilgiz Valiev leads the Red Raiders in singles wins with record of 15-5, including a 9-4 mark at No. 4 singles. Connor Curry is 11-9 on the year, playing primarily at the No. 2 spot. Matheus Leite has compiled an 11-6 record in the lower part of the lineup.

The all-time series between TTU and OU is tied at 22-22. OU owned the last meeting, netting a 4-2 win over the Red Raiders in Lubbock.

Promotions

Free pizza and free t-shirts will be provided to fans in attendance Friday. Promotions also include face painting, raffle prizes and the chance to win an Apple 4KTV.

Senior Day

The Sooners will honor senior Mason Bridegan on Sunday prior to the Texas Tech match. Bridegan, a native of Broken Arrow, Okla., joined the roster as a walk-on during his junior year.

Match Notes

First serve against Baylor is set for 6 p.m. CT on Friday. The Texas Tech match is set for 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Live stats will be available for both matches. The contests will be broadcast on Fox Sports Oklahoma Plus.

For updates, follow @OU_MTennis on Twitter.