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Whoever thought tennis was a quiet gentlemen’s sport didn’t watch the Cowboys play over the weekend.
The players pumping themselves up, the yelling of frustration, the grunting, and the crowd’s cheers were all amplified Saturday at the indoor courts of the Michael D. Case Center in Tulsa.
The men’s tennis team withstood the echoing noise to defeat Memphis 5-2.
Senior Oleksandr Nedovyesov started the streak of singles wins for the Cowboys by defeating Leon Naseman 6-2 6-3.
Despite the lopsided score line, Nedovyesov said he was far from his best.
“I’m just looking for results,” Nedovyesov said. “It’s really hard to play really good at the beginning of the season. As long as I’m playing good, the results will come.”
After Nedovyesov’s victory, Maximilian Kuhn, junior Aleksey Bessonov and Anton Bobytskyi kept the Cowboys on the winning track.
Bobytskyi secured his victory after he recovered from a second-set lapse to defeat David Henry 6-2 4-6 6-0.
The junior said he needs to work on his concentration in the second sets of his matches.
“It’s my biggest problem all the time,” Bobytskyi said. “I start playing the second set much worse than the first set, but I come back in the third. It’s the story of my life.”
Freshman Eric West also won a three-set match after easily winning the first set. He defeated Michael Hayes 6-1 2-6 6-3.
The only singles match lost was Illia Martinowski, who wasn’t able to convert his first set win into a victory. He fell to Charlie Ramsay 2-6 6-3 6-4.
Despite the convincing victory, Cowboys coach, James Wadley, said there’s always room for improvement.
“The first match is always scary, putting new guys in the lineup,” Wadley said. “We didn’t play as well in some spots that I thought we would, and played better in some spots than I thought we would. We lost the doubles and we were able to come back and win five of the singles. That’s as good as you can ask for.”
The Oklahoma State women’s tennis team opened its 2010 dual-match season Saturday, but it did not have the same success the men’s tennis team did, falling to No. 19 Arkansas, 7-0.
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