University of Oklahoma tennis team ranked #1

[ljbab728]

As an update for this year. OU has advanced to the semi-finals of the NCAA tournament against TCU as the number one seed. With Baylor also in the semi-finals, the Big 12 has shown to be the dominant tennis conference in 2015.

[Pete]

#1 OU plays #5 TCU in the semi-finals today at 1PM.

If they win, they'll play the winner of #2 Baylor and #Virginia tomorrow at 1PM.

The championships are being played in Waco.

[Pete]

Sooners just edged out #5 TCU to advance to tomorrow's national championship match against Virginia, who beat home-standing Baylor.

Matches start at 1PM tomorrow afternoon.

[jccouger]

Any live radio for this on the internet?

[Pete]

You can follow live scoring here:

Baylor Official Athletic Site - Men's Tennis

There are also live video feeds for all the courts (but no commentary or scores shown):

Baylor Official Athletic Site - Men's Tennis

[jccouger]

Wow, that is outstanding. Thank you so much, Pete.

[Pete]

I've followed OU tennis closely the last few years; even seen them play in person a couple of times.

Here's how this all works... There are 3 doubles teams for each school and they each play one 'super set'; first to 7 games, must win by 2. First team to take two doubles matches wins one point.

Then, there are six singles matches all worth one point. So, first team to win 4 of the 7 overall points wins the contest.

The singles matches are ranked #1-#6. The schools submit their lineups before the tournament and can't switch them to avoid anyone trying to play the game of favorable match-ups. You merely send your six best players out in order to face the other school.


OU is the #1 seed and Virginia is #3. OU won a close match in Norman earlier this season, 4-3.

However, that was pretty early on and there have been some important shifts since.

In that earlier win, OU lost the doubles point but then won four of six in singles. OU had been very poor in doubles (relative to their ranking) all season but just before post-season shook up their lineup and have since gone 6-1 in doubles against the toughest competition.

Also, OU's #2 -- ranked #7 in the country overall -- has been struggling with a back ailment. Don't like OU's chances if his match goes to a third set.

Additionally, OU's #3 has come completely off the rails in the last month and lost very badly yesterday. That was a match OU won earlier in the year but I'd be shocked if it didn't go the other way this time.

But in addition to the good doubles trend, Freshman Spencer Papa is on a very good run at #5 and that's an improvement.


Long way of saying this will almost certainly be very close and tense. Whoever wins the doubles point will start with a great advantage, but either team could overcome that in the singles matches.

It's actually very exciting to follow, because all the matches are happening simultaneously.

[jccouger]

That is interesting Pete. I didn't really understand how it worked with the doubles/singles but I'm glad the doubles only count for a point

I actually started going to OU when they built the new tennis facility, so I was able to watch OU's rise to national power first hand. Somebody powerful must have had a huge influence on the Tennis department, because the investment in those facilities & to attract the level of coach they did is incredible.

Small story, I took a tennis class @ OU & my playing partner was Blake Griffin. We were both novices, but his athleticism usually got the better of me lol

OU is starting off pretty slow in these doubles matches....

[jccouger]

Slight momentum shift in OU's favor. Still trailing overall. Crowd is for sure pro OU.

[Pete]

Sorry, that was a mis-type about doubles scoring earlier...

They play to 8 games, not 7. Just one set.

[Pete]

Virginia takes the doubles point and leads 1-0.

OU will have to win 4 of 6 singles matches, which they did when these two teams met earlier in the season.

[jccouger]

Not looking good....

[jccouger]

I forgot it was first to 2 sets. That is good. Lets keep rolling men!

[jccouger]

Slipping away. Very improbable at this point. Good season, but should've won it all being ranked #1 as long as they were.

[jccouger]

[Pete]

Congratulations to Virginia.

They were the better team today.


Fantastic season for the Sooners, and we return 5 of our top 6 for next year. John Roddick has built a tremendous program and we'll have more shots down the road.