College Tennis News - Oklahoma Hosts Rival Texas

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 11 University of Oklahoma men’s tennis team faces border state rival No. 16 Texas Friday, April 5, at the Headington Family Tennis Pavilion. “They’ve played well recently, and I think we’ve played pretty well,” OU head coach John Roddick said. “It’s going to be another good match between the two programs.”

The Sooners (13-5) and Longhorns (12-5) both enter the match with three ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams.

For OU, the ranked singles players are No. 30 Costin Paval, No. 51 Guillermo Alcorta and No. 61 Dane Webb. Paval and Webb partner as the No. 29 doubles tandem, and Alcorta teams with Axel Alvarez Llamas as the No. 71 duo.

Texas is led by No. 58 Soren Hess-Olesen in singles. He is followed by No. 85 Daniel Whitehead and No. 108 Sudanwa Sitaram. Chris Camillone and David Holiner team at No. 23 in doubles, and Sitaram and Whitehead partner as the No. 68 tandem.

Both teams enter the match after beating Rice.

OU topped Rice, 5-0, Sunday, March 31, in Norman, in a match that lasted less than two hours.

“I think one of our goals in the last couple matches was to play better at all the spots at the same time,” Roddick said. “Against Rice we were able to do that. That’s something where I feel a little better about the consistency that we put out there as far as having a chance to get points at every spot.”

Texas concluded its non-conference play with a win over Rice, 7-0, Saturday, March 23, in Austin, Texas.

Last time the Sooners and Longhorns met, No. 21 OU opened Big 12 play by upsetting No. 13 Texas, the Big 12 preseason favorite, 5-2, in Austin, Texas.

UT leads the series 32-4 since 1952, but the Sooners hold a 3-1 record over the Longhorns under Roddick, including a 4-2 win in 2010 to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships.

“For us, it’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, matches of the year, and I’m sure it is for them as well,” Roddick said.

The Sooners continue their weekend against No. 33 TCU Sunday, April 7, at 1 p.m. in Norman, Okla.

Follow @OU_Tennis and like Oklahoma Men’s Tennis on Facebook for more information about the men’s tennis program.