No. 7 OU falls to No. 28 Florida State, 4-3, late Tuesday night.
March 12, 2013
NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 7 University of Oklahoma men's tennis team fell to No. 28 Florida State, 4-3, Tuesday, March 12, in a match that lasted more than four hours.
"That's sports sometimes," OU head coach John Roddick said. "I think for our team, it's early enough to have a loss like that. If they choose to have it be a very good thing, it's something that can definitely happen."
In doubles, Florida State (12-3) claimed a quick win at the No. 3 position. The Sooners (10-4) quickly responded, winning at position No. 1 8-2.
Court two battled after that. No. 56 Guillermo Alcorta and Axel Alvarez Llamas eventually fell to Anderson Reed and Jordan Kelly-Houston, 9-7.
In singles, No. 17 Costin Paval quickly tied things for OU, beating No. 110 Dominic Cotrone 6-3, 7-6 (5).
The Sooners and Seminoles battled back and forth until Florida State was up 3-2 with matches left on courts two and three.
On court two, No. 92 Dane Webb lost his first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (2). He battled to quickly win the second set, 6-2. But in the third set, he lost the second tiebreaker of his match 7-6 (5).
"It's hard when it comes down to a match like Dane at the end and he ends up being the one who loses that match when he actually played a really good match," Roddick said. "His level and intensity were high."
Shortly after Florida State clinched the match, No. 44 Alcorta won his match over Benjamin Lock, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-4, to bring the final score to 4-3.
The Sooners return to the road for two spring break road matches next week. They play No. 54 Arizona Wednesday, March 20, at 2 p.m. in Tucson, Ariz. After that, they travel to Malibu, Calif., to face No. 12 Pepperdine Saturday, March 23, at 2 p.m.
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Florida State 4, Oklahoma 3
Doubles
1. No. 44 Paval/Webb (OU) def. No. 22 Bucaro/Lock (FSU), 8-2.
2. Reed/Kelly-Houston (FSU) def. No. 56 Alcorta/Alvarez Llamas (OU), 9-7.
3. Cotrone/Davis (FSU) def. Formentera/Siributwong (OU), 8-1.
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. No. 17 Costin Paval (OU) def. No. 110 Dominic Cotrone (FSU), 6-3, 7-6 (5).
2. No. 44 Guillermo Alcorta (OU) def. Benjamin Lock (FSU), 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-4.
3. Jordan Kelly-Houston (FSU) def. Dane Webb (OU), 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (5).
4. Axel Alvarez Llamas (OU) def. Blake Davis (FSU), 6-2, 6-4.
5. Anderson Reed (FSU) def. Leonard Stakhovsky (OU), 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
6. Michael Rinaldi (FSU) def. Peerakit Siributwong (OU), 6-1, 7-5.
Order of finish: 4, 6, 1, 5, 3*, 2
