Top-10 Sooners Round Out Regular Season Play With Pair of Road Matches

NORMAN – The No. 9 Oklahoma men's tennis team is prepared to complete the regular-season with a pair of road matches against Arkansas and No. 8 Texas A&M.

The Sooners face Arkansas on Friday, April 10, at 5:30 p.m. CT before heading to College Station, Texas to take on Texas A&M on Sunday, April 12, at 1 p.m CT.

OU's match against the Razorbacks can be followed through live stream and live stats. The links can be found here. Information about the Sooners' match against the Aggies can be found here.

LAST TIME OUT

Oklahoma has won its last six matches, five of which have been over top-25 teams. Most recently, the Sooners topped No. 6 Mississippi State 4-3 at the Headington Family Tennis Center on Senior Day. Sophomore Oscar Lacides clinched the upset on court two after the Sooners won the doubles point and added singles points with wins from Asahi Harazaki and Johan Rodriguez.

IN THE RANKINGS

OU sits at its season-high team rank of No. 9 in the country and has four student-athletes ranked in singles and two ranked doubles pairs.

Luis Alvarez leads the group in singles and doubles with a No. 6 doubles ranking with teammate Bruno Nhavene and a No. 33 ranking on the singles side. Lacides follows with a No. 62 singles ranking while Orel Kimhi is No. 89 and Rodriguez is No. 94. Alejandro Melero and Hank Trondson are No. 59 in doubles.

NOTES AND NUMBERS

Lacides earned his first SEC Player of the Week nod of the season following his clinching victory against Mississippi State. Rodriguez picked up his fourth straight SEC Freshman of the Week honor after posting a clinching win in doubles competition and dominating a three-set match, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0. The freshman's win over his opponent marked his fourth win over a ranked opponent in his first season with Oklahoma and improved his total wins on the season to 29.

OU is tied with Texas for the longest win streak in the SEC at six consecutive matches. Despite facing top-15 opponents in five of their last seven matches, the Sooners have remained dominant, winning four of those five contests.

Oklahoma has totaled six wins over top-15 teams and 10 wins over nationally ranked opponents.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

Arkansas sits at a 16-9 overall record and a 3-9 SEC record. The Razorbacks most recently lost to Mississippi State in a 5-3 result and their last conference win was over Auburn, 6-1.

The Razorbacks are No. 34 in the ITA team ranks and Jakub Vrba is the lone student-athlete with a singles rank at the No. 19 spot. Eric Padgham and Ben Weintraub lead Arkansas in doubles with a No. 31 rank and Connor Smillie and Vrba complete the ranks at the No. 85 place in doubles.

The Aggies are the No. 8 team in the country and have three players in the ITA singles ranks. Theo Papamalamis leads the group at the No. 15 spot followed by Kholo Montsi at No. 36 and Alexander Frusina at No. 104.

On the doubles side, Papamalamis and Togan Tokac are the only ranked pair at No. 5. Texas A&M holds a 17-7 season record and a 10-3 league record. The Aggies are currently on a five-match win streak with recent wins over Mississippi State, Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama.

UP NEXT

Following the conclusion of the regular season, the Sooners return to College Station to compete in the SEC Tournament from April 15-19.

FOLLOW THE SOONERS

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