Sooners at Arkansas Saturday

Arkansas

Oklahoma

Saturday, Feb. 16 | 1 p.m. CT | Fayetteville, Ark. | Billingsely Tennis Center

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NORMAN – The No. 18 Oklahoma men's tennis team is on the road Saturday to face former conference foe Arkansas at 1 p.m.

"We've continued to improve from the beginning of the season and we just hope to play a really good match against Arkansas and play with a lot of energy to get more wins on the board.

We've been working on bringing our guys together – being really tight, one unit, one family and playing for each other. Playing really hard and competitive and really being tough when we go on the road."

Last Time Out

OU (6-2) got a 4-2 win over Cornell in its last competition, surging to four singles wins after dropping the doubles point. Jochen Bertsch, Alex Bakshi and Ferran Calvo all chipped in singles victories before Max Stewart clinched the team's win at the No. 6 line. Stewart has clinched both matches he has played in this season.

Sooners in the Rankings

Redshirt senior Papa broke into the first ITA singles rankings of the season at No. 47. Papa is 4-1 on the year from the No. 1 line.

In doubles Papa and Van Emburgh are No. 33 after compiling a 6-1 record, also at the top spot.

As a team, OU held steady at No. 18 overall. The Sooners were also tabbed No. 19 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25, up from No. 22 in the

Scouting the Razorbacks

Arkansas enters the contest at 8-3 on the year with a 7-1 mark at home. In their last contest the Razorbacks fell to No. 6 Texas 6-1 in their first loss at the Billingsley Tennis Center this season.

Two Razorbacks were tabbed in the latest ITA singles rankings. Oscar Mesquida checks in at No. 97 with a 4-2 record at the top two spots, while Adam Sanjurjo is No. 120 with a 3-3 mark primarily on court two. Sanjurjo has noteched two wins over ranked opponents this season.

In doubles, Enrique Paya and Maxim Verboven lead the team in wins with a 6-3 mark between courts one and two. Josh Howard-Tripp and Alex Reco have compiled a 3-2 mark at the No. 1, 2, and 3 lines.

Match Info

First serve is set for 1 p.m. CT. Live stats will be available for the contest.

Up Next

The Sooners head to Florida for a pair of matches at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. OU will face Mississippi State on Feb. 23 before meeting Kentucky on Feb. 24. The Mississippi State match will be contested as part of the 2019 USTA National Campus Collegiate Series, which showcases some of the premier schools in the nation at the Collegiate Center.

For updates, follow @OU_MTennis on Twitter or like Oklahoma Men's Tennis on Facebook.