Big 12 Play Begins with Bedlam

¹⁷Oklahoma

²⁷Oklahoma State

Friday, March 29 | 7 p.m. | Headington Family Tennis Center

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NORMAN – The No. 17 Oklahoma men's tennis team is set to open Big 12 action Friday when it hosts No. 27 Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. CT.

The match will be streamed on Soonersports.tv.

Last Time Out

In its last contest, the Oklahoma (13-5) swept then-No. 46 USF 7-0 at the Headington Family Tennis Center. OU picked up the doubles point after USF forfeited on court three, then Ferran Calvo and Jake Van Emburgh took court two 6-3. USF forfeited at No. 6 singles before Spencer Papa, Jake Van Emburgh, Alex Bakshi, Mason Beiler and Max Stewart all grabbed wins.

No. 54 Papa took down No. 19 Alberto Barroso-Campos at the No. 1 line 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 to hand Barroso-Campos just his second loss of the season. With that victory, Papa has now upset two top-25 opponents after having previously defeated then-No. 16 Alex Ledbedev of Notre Dame.

The victory was good for head coach Nick Crowell's 50th at the helm for the Sooners.

Sooners in the Rankings

OU checked in at No. 17 in the latest ITA release, up three spots from its previous ranking. Additionally, Oklahoma was tabbed No. 15 in the most recent Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 men's poll.

Three Sooners are ranked in the ITA's singles rankings. No. 49 Bakshi is 7-4 on the season with four wins over ranked opponents. Papa is No. 54 with a 6-3 record at the top spot, and No. 88 Van Emburgh is 9-3 playing primarily on court two.

Non-Conference Wrap Up

OU completed the non-conference slate at 13-5. The Sooners took out five ranked opponents in that stretch: No. 49 Kentucky, No. 45 Tulsa, No. 21 Florida State, No. 50 Memphis and No. 46 USF.

Iron Sharpens Iron

All six men's tennis members of the Big 12 conference are ranked in the ITA's top 30 headed into the first week of league play.

The Big 12 is the only Power-5 conference to feature 100 percent of its teams in the top 30. The next closest conference is the SEC, where 62 percent of the teams were listed in the top 30.

Four Big 12 teams were tabbed in the ITA top 25 in No. 4 Texas, No. 6 Baylor, No. 9 TCU and No. 17 Oklahoma. Oklahoma State checks in at No. 27 and Texas Tech is No. 29.

Scouting Oklahoma State

The No. 27 Cowboys enter Friday's contest with a 13-6 record. OSU dropped its last match to No. 42 UCF 4-0 in Orlando.

Two Cowboys were tabbed in the latest ITA singles release. No. 68 Matej Vocel is 8-4 on the season at the No. 1 line, winning his last six consecutive matches.

Artur Dubinski is No. 90 with a 7-3 record compiled on courts one, two, three and four.

In doubles, Mathiew Scaglia and Maxin Tybar are No. 37 nationally with a 5-3 record at the top spot.

Bedlam History

OU is 42-50-2 all-time against Oklahoma State.
The first meeting between the teams was in 1952, when OU won 5-1.

OU is 10-0 in the last 10 meetings with the Cowboys.

The Sooners won a thriller last year in Stillwater with Jake Van Emburgh clinching the 4-3 victory for OU at the No. 2 spot.

In the match, OU dropped the doubles point and two singles matches to trail the Cowboys 3-0 before Ferran Calvo, Alex Bakshi, Stefano Tsorotiotis and Van Emburgh grabbed wins to lift the Sooners to victory.

Match Info

First serve is set for 7 p.m. CT at the Headington Family Tennis Center. The match will be streamed on Soonersports.tv for a fee and live stats will be available.

Food trucks will be present at the match, and free OU headbands will be provided while supplies last.

OU Athletics has introduced a clear bag policy and walk-through metal detectors at all home events this season. More information on the policy and procedures can be found here.

Admission to the Headington Family Tennis Center is always free.

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