No. 8 Oklahoma plays No. 17 Tulsa Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 7, 2013
NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 8 University of Oklahoma men’s tennis team returns home Friday, Feb. 8, when it hosts No. 17 Tulsa at the Gregg Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s an in-state rivalry for us,” OU head coach John Roddick said. “Their tennis program has always been very, very strong. So for us, that’s one of the biggest matches we play just from a close-to-home, rivalry standpoint. We’ve always had good, close matches and I don’t expect anything different on Friday.”
The Sooners (4-1) enter the match against the Golden Hurricane (3-3) after their first loss of the season to No. 7 Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., Sunday.
Against Kentucky, all three doubles matches went to tiebreaks, but the Wildcats topped the Sooners to claim the team point. OU fought back during singles to tie the match 3-3, but Kentucky’s Grant Roberts beat OU’s freshman Leonard Stakhovsky 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Last Friday, OU won its first road match of the season 4-3 over No. 32 Indiana.
Friday’s match against Tulsa is the first time the Sooners face the Golden Hurricane since then-No. 20 Tulsa upset then-No. 10 OU, 4-1, in the second round of the NCAA tournament. In 2011, Tulsa also eliminated OU from the NCAA tournament, beating the Sooners, 4-2, in the first round.
“We can’t say we’re not looking forward to getting some revenge,” senior Costin Paval said, “but it has to be treated the same as any other match and we can’t really go outside the things that have been working so far.”
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