NORMAN – The Oklahoma men's tennis team continues its homestand Monday as the Sooners host Bryant at 11 a.m., followed by Oral Roberts at 3 p.m. CT.
The Sooners
OU checks in at No. 22 in the ITA team rankings. Two Sooners represent OU in the ITA singles rankings. Mason Beiler is No. 50 nationally at 2-0 this season, while Jochen Bertsch is No. 116 and is 1-1.
Last Time Out
The No. 22 Sooners (1-1) split their opening weekend, sweeping Abilene Christian 7-0 before narrowly falling to No. 18 Tennessee 4-3 as the match came down to the last court.
Against ACU, OU came out firing in doubles, winning all three courts by a score of 6-1. OU won every court in doubles and two Sooners grabbed their first wins in the Crimson and Cream as In singles as freshman Mark Mandlik was the first Sooner off the court with a 6-3, 6-0 victory at the No. 5 line and Alex Martinez completed the sweep in a comeback win on court six. After dropping the first set 6-2, Martinez powered through a second-set tiebreaker 7-6 (4) and won a 10-point decision 1-0 [9].
OU took Tennessee to the wire in the top-25 matchup, but fell just short of the volunteers. After trailing 3-1 in the match, the Sooners used wins from freshmen Mandlik and Justin Schlageter to tie the contest at 3-3 before Tennessee won the final contest after three sets.
Previewing Bryant
Bryant enters the 2020 season off a 2019 campaign that saw the Bulldogs the Northeast Conference title and the squad's sixth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Bryant finished the 2019 season at 20-11 overall and 6-0 in conference play. 14 Bulldogs return from last year's team.
The Bulldogs will open the 2020 season with a tour of Oklahoma, playing six total matches in the Sooner State beginning Friday. Bryant will face Lamar University and Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., before playing at Tulsa on Sunday. The Bulldogs then come to Norman to face No. 22 OU, followed by a matchup with Oral Roberts at the Headington Family Tennis Center.
Scouting Oral Roberts
The Golden Eagles come to Norman at 0-1 on the year after falling to Mercer 6-1 in their first conference of the year.
Oral Roberts completed the 2019 season at 6-12 overall and returns eight players from last year's squad.
Match Info
First serve against Bryant will be at 11 a.m. CT. The match with Oral Roberts is slated to begin at 3 p.m. Live stats and PlaySight will be available for both contests.
Admission to the Headington Family Tennis Center is always free.