No. 11 Men's Tennis To Take on No. 6 Mississippi State in Regular-Season Home Finale

NORMAN – The No. 11 Oklahoma men's tennis team looks to extend its five-match conference win streak in its regular-season home finale against No. 6 Mississippi State on Saturday, April 4, at noon CT at the Headington Family Tennis Center.

The dual will mark OU's eighth top-25 competition of the season. The Sooners are 5-2 against top-25 ranked foes this season and have won four straight.

MATCH DAY BASICS

The Sooners' 2026 home matches at the Headington Family Tennis Center are open to the public and admission is free of charge. Concessions will be available for purchase.

Free hot dogs and crimson hats will be available for fans at Saturday's match while supplies last. Doors to the Headington Family Tennis Center open at 11 a.m.

OU's two seniors, Luis Alvarez and Bruno Nhavene, will be celebrated on Senior Day with a ceremony following the conclusion of the match.

Oklahoma maintains a clear bag policy for all home events on the Norman campus. Fans can enter through the main doors of the Headington Family Tennis Center for all matches. Doors open at 4 p.m. CT.

LAST TIME OUT

The Sooners are the hottest team in the SEC with a five-match win streak as they head into their weekend match against the Bulldogs. The streak began on the road with a 4-1 victory at No. 3 Texas on March 15. The Sooners then swept a home weekend against No. 14 Auburn and Alabama, March 20-22, before claiming road wins at No. 11 Georgia and No. 21 Florida last weekend.

The wins over Georgia and Florida came in dominant fashion as the Sooners swept UGA in Athens, Ga. OU turned around and faced Florida just two days later and closed out the 4-3 result with a three-set battle at the four line where sophomore Orel Kimhi clinched the victory.

IN THE RANKINGS

Oklahoma (15-5, 7-4 SEC) checks into the weekly ITA team rankings at the No. 11 spot, the team's highest position since conference play began in late February. Alvarez and Nhavene continue to rise in the doubles ranks, sitting at No. 6 in the nation. The top-10 nod marks the highest individual ranking in both Alvarez's and Nhavene's careers. Alvarez also earned his career-high singles ranking at No. 30.

Sophomore Oscar Lacides follows Alvarez in the singles rankings at No. 62, while sophomore Orel Kimhi checks in at No. 66. Freshman standout Johan Rodriguez rounds out the singles side at No. 119.

Sophomore Alejandro Melero and junior Hank Trondson pair up to complete the list of ranked Sooners with a No. 58 doubles rank.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Rodriguez earned his third straight SEC Freshman of the Week honor after going 3-0 in combined singles and doubles matches against Georgia and Florida. The freshman assisted in the Sooners' sweep over the Bulldogs with a point in singles.

Rodriguez notched his 13th singles win of the season, tying teammate Luis Alvarez for the most singles wins on the season. He has won seven of his last 10 singles matches and is 9-2 at the four singles position.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

Sixth-ranked Mississippi State is 19-3 overall and are tied with a conference-best 10-2 record in the SEC (tied with Texas). The Bulldogs have won their last three matches over No. 7 LSU, Ole Miss and Kentucky.

Five MSU players are listed in the March 31 ITA singles rankings. Petar Jovanovic leads the group at No. 9, Benito Sanchez Martinez follows at No. 16. Mario Martinez Serrano sits at the No. 63 spot while Niccolo Baroni is at No. 67 and Bryan Hernandez Cortes is at No. 121.

Sanchez Martinez and Jovanovic are the lone Bulldog pair in the doubles rank at No. 3.

UP NEXT

The Sooners complete the regular season with two road bouts at Arkansas on Friday, April 10, at 5:30 p.m. CT and Texas A&M on Sunday, April 12, at noon CT.

FOLLOW THE SOONERS

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