Sooners Win Thriller Over Arkansas

²⁵Oklahoma

Arkansas

NORMAN, Okla. – The Oklahoma men's tennis team defeated Arkansas in a 4-3 battle at home Friday night.

With the win, OU improves to 5-3 on the season while Arkansas moves to 3-3.

"We knew that Arkansas was going to come in here with a lot of confidence. They played a great match last weekend and they played a great match tonight. You have to give a lot of credit to Arkansas, but our guys really stepped up tonight" said head coach Nick Crowell.

"The match got really tight there, a lot of really tight first sets, but we were fortunate to get a lot of those tight ones, which gave us a little bit of momentum. Then Jake (Van Emburgh) stepped up for us at the end at floor one, and we had match points on other courts. It was a seesaw battle the entire time. It was a great college tennis match and a great atmosphere."

OU took the doubles point to open the match. Mason Beiler and Justin Schlageter defeated Jose D. Alonso and Melvin Manuel 6-3 on court three to get things started.

On the premier court, Van Emburgh and Mark Mandlik fell to Maxim Verboven and Enrique Paya 6-4 in a tough set.

The point came down to court two, wheree Max Stewart and Alex Martinez defeated Nico Rousset and Alex Reco in the tiebreaker 7-6 (4) to give Oklahoma the doubles point.

In singles, Mandlik was the first Sooner to finish with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Josh Howard-Tripp on the third court. Next to finish for the Sooners was Mason Beiler who fell to Alex Reco 4-6, 4-6 at the No. 2 line.

Martinez came out with a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Melvin Manuel on court five making the score 3-1 for the Sooners.

To clinch the match, Van Emburgh battled Verboven but came out victorious with a 7-6, 7-5 win on the premier court.

Schlageter fell to Manuel in a 2-6, 6-1, 5-7 battle on the fourth court. Stewart fell to Paya 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 leaving the final score at 4-3 favoring the Sooners.

Up Next

The Sooners will host San Diego this Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.

Results

Singles

1. Jake Van Emburgh (OU) def. Maxim Verboven (ARK) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5
2. Alex Reco (ARK) def. Mason Beiler (OU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Mark Mandlik (OU) def. Josh Howard-Tripp (ARK) 6-4, 6-3
4. Nico Rousset (ARK) def. Justin Schlageter (OU) 6-2, 1-6, 7-5
5. Alex Martinez (OU) def. Melvin Manuel (ARK) 7-6, 7-5
6. Enrique Paya (ARK) def. Max Stewart (OU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Doubles
1. Maxim Verboven/Enrique Paya (ARK) def. Jake Van Emburgh/Mark Mandlik (OU) 6-4
2. Max Stewart/Alex Martinez (OU) def. Nico Rousset/Alex Reco (ARK) 7-6 (7-4)
3. Mason Beiler/Justin Schlageter (OU) def. Jose D. Alonso/Melvin Manuel (ARK) 6-3

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

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Results

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mason Beiler

Mark Mandlik

Alex Martinez

Justin Schlageter

Max Stewart

Jake Van Emburgh

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics