WICHITA, Kan. -- The men's tennis team faces arguably their toughest test of the season when they travel to Stillwater, Okla. for a 5 p.m. match with No. 7 Oklahoma State at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
Oklahoma State (15-3) dropped two spots from No. 5 to No. 7 in this week's Oracle/ITA rankings, despite having won seven-straight matches, including consecutive wins over No. 25 Minnesota, No. 13 Northwestern and No. 9 Michigan. The Cowboys feature three ranked singles players: No. 23 Julian Cash, No. 69 Lukas Finzelbergand No. 77 Arjun Kadhe. OSU also display strong doubles chemistry with two players listed twice, as Kadhe and Cash are currently ranked second in the nation, while Kadhe/Lucas Gerch are ranked No. 44 and Gerch/Jurence Mendoza are No. 76. As a team, the Cowboys have never been ranked lower than No. 14 this season.
Wichita State (9-7) has already faced a team ranked No. 7 this year, falling to then-No. 7 Texas by a score of 1-6 on Feb. 24 in Austin. The Shockers have won five of their last seven, highlighted by a win over No. 39 Cal Poly on march 5 in the championship of the Pacific Invite.
Haru Inoue comes into the match ranked No. 79 after being listed at No. 71 last week, after not playing in any of the three contests during last weekend. Newcomers
Murkel Dellien and
Marius Frosa have been hitting their stride recently, as both are 7-3 over their last ten matches.
Last time the teams met, No. 25 Oklahoma State swept No. 57 Wichita State 4-0 on April 7, 2015 at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
Miroslav Herzan and
Jocelyn Devilliers fell in the fourth and fifth singles matches respectively, and lost their doubles match in the second flight.
Up Next:
Wichita State returns home for a doubleheader on Sat., March 25 at the Coleman Tennis Complex. The Shockers will first host UT Arlington - who WSU has already faced and defeated this year - at 1 p.m., and then No. 4 (in JuCo ranks) Seward Community College at 4:30 p.m.
