Sooners Ride Past Cowboys in Bedlam Victory

¹⁷Oklahoma

²⁷Oklahoma State

NORMAN – In front of a crowd of 507, the No. 17 Oklahoma men's tennis team routed No. 27 Oklahoma State 6-1 to open Big 12 play with a win.

“I was really proud of the ways our guys stepped up in the big moments,” said OU head coach Nick Crowell. “We play so big in the big moments. That's what we practiced all week. When you put in good weeks of work, good things happen on the weekend."

OU (14-5, 1-0 Big 12) opened the match with the doubles point, then picked up six singles wins to close out the Cowboys.

In doubles, Jochen Bertsch and Stefano Tsorotiotis were defeated by Luke Hammond and Artur Dubinski 6-3 on court three before Alex Bakshi and Spencer Papa held on beat No. 37 Maxim Tybar and Mathieu Scaglia 7-5 at the top spot.

The point came down to court two, where Jake Van Emburgh and Ferran Calvo took down Emile Hudd and Matej Vocel after a tiebreaker, 7-6 (6).

“It was really big for Ferran and Jake to play aggressive in those big moments in the doubles,” Crowell said. “Some of the things we've been working on during the week really payed off and hopefully we can continue to grow from that."

Calvo picked up OU's first singles win. The senior shut out No. 90 Dubinski in the first set, 6-0, before Dubinski retired.

In his final Bedlam match, senior and No. 54 Papa got his second straight win over a ranked opponent, taking down No. 68 Vocel 6-4, 6-1. Papa jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set before Vocel tied it at 4-all. Papa won the next two games to take the set, then took a 4-0 lead in set two. The Oklahoma native gave up just one game in the second frame to close it out.

"Spencer has been doing a great job the last few weeks of really getting his body ready to go,” said Crowell. “He is gaining confidence from every match and I'm really excited to see him gain a lot of momentum in his senior year.”

Van Emburgh clinched the match for the Sooners, taking down Tybar 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 2 line. The first set saw ties at every game up to 4-all before Van Emburgh ran away with the frame, then kept the momentum rolling in the second.

“Jake showed a tremendous amount of fight being down a break 3-2 in the first. When he broke back at 3-all he was like a freight train and couldn't be stopped,” Crowell said of the sophomore.

Beiler tallied his seventh consecutive win when he took down Scaglia on court four. The freshman took a 4-0 lead in the first before using a service winner to close it out 6-3. The players tied the second set at every game up to 4-all, but Beiler prevailed. The freshman has now tallied 11 wins on the season to lead the Sooners in singles victories.

“Mason continued to be solid, beat a really good opponent today and he could build off that going into the end of the season,” Crowell said.

On court six, Tsorotiotis held on for a win over Hammond, 6-1, 7-6 (6). Tsorotiotis made quick work of Hammond in the first, but trailed 4-0 early in the second before making a comeback to force a tiebreaker, which he won.

“Stefano worked really hard all week long, put in a lot of extra time and had a great attitude when he was down,” Crowell said. “I thought that was big for him to come-back and win that in two sets.”

Bertsch was defeated by Hudd 7-5, 6-3.

Up Next

The Sooners will take their first Big 12 road trip next weekend when they head to Baylor and Texas Tech. OU returns to the Headington Family Tennis Center on April 12 to host TCU, followed by Texas on April 14 in the final regular season matches.

Results

Singles Results
1. #54 Spencer Papa (OU) def. #68 Matej Vocel (OSU) 6-4, 6-1
2. #88 Jake Van Emburgh (OU) def. Maxim Tybar (OSU) 6-4, 6-2
3. Ferran Calvo (OU) def. #90 Artur Dubinski (OSU) 6-0, retired
4. Mason Beiler (OU) def. Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Emile Hudd (OSU) def. Jochen Bertsch (OU) 7-5, 6-3
6. Stefano Tsorotiotis (OU) def. Luke Hammond (OSU) 6-1, 7-6 (8-6)

Doubles Results
1. Alex Bakshi/Spencer Papa (OU) def. #37 Maxim Tybar/Mathieu Scaglia (OSU) 7-5
2. Jake Van Emburgh/Ferran Calvo (OU) def. Emile Hudd/Matej Vocel (OSU) 7-6 (8-6)
3. Luke Hammond/Artur Dubinski (OSU) def. Jochen Bertsch/Stefano Tsorotiotis (OU) 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,1,2,4,6,5)

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