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No. 13 Men's Tennis falls to No. 21 Oklahoma, 5-2
03.30.2012 | Men's Tennis
March 30, 2012
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas sophomore David Holiner picked up his seventh consecutive win, but No. 21 Oklahoma (10-4, 1-0 Big 12) posted a 5-2 victory over the 13th-ranked Longhorns (13-6, 0-1 Big 12) in the conference opener for both teams Friday evening at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
Oklahoma took two of three doubles matches to claim the doubles point and assume a 1-0 lead. The Sooners' Tsvetan Mihov and Peerakit Siributwong broke the serve of UT's Ben Chen and Daniel Whitehead early in their match at second doubles before emerging with an 8-3 victory. At first doubles, OU's Costin Paval and Dane Webb held a 6-5 lead over UT's Chris Camillone and Holiner and broke the Horns' serve to take a 7-5 lead. The Sooners held serve in the following game to win the match, 8-5 and clinch the doubles point.
UT's Alex Hilliard and Sudanwa Sitaram trailed 5-2 to OU's Lawrence Formentera and David Pultr before evening the match at six games apiece at third doubles. At seven-all, the teams agreed to proceed to a tiebreaker. Oklahoma led 6-3 in the tiebreaker, but Texas' Hilliard and Sitaram took the next five points to win the tiebreaker, 8-6 and claim the match.
Oklahoma extended its lead to 2-0 behind a 6-2, 6-1 victory from Guillermo Alcorta over the Longhorns' Whitehead at second singles. The Sooners assumed a 3-0 lead at fifth singles, where Webb posted a 6-2, 6-0 win over UT's Chen. At sixth singles, UT's Holiner broke OU's Pultr for a 2-0 lead in the first set before winning the set, 6-3. Holiner yielded nothing the rest of the way, as he took the second set, 6-0 to win the match and cut the Sooners' lead to 3-1.
Oklahoma notched the match-clinching point at first singles, where the Sooners' 17th-ranked Paval defeated UT's 64th-ranked Soren Hess-Olesen, 6-2, 6-3. OU pushed its lead to 5-1 at fourth singles, where the 82nd-ranked Siributwong finished off a 6-1, 6-3 win over UT's Lloyd Glasspool.
Texas picked up the match's final point from Sitaram, who held off OU's Mihov in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-5 before dropping the second set, 6-1. Sitaram edged Mihov in the ensuing match tiebreaker, 10-8 to close the final margin to 5-2 in favor of the Sooners.
Texas wraps up its weekend on Sunday when it hosts Oklahoma State. First serve is set for 1 p.m. Central at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
No. 21 Oklahoma 5, No. 13 Texas 2
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
1 #13 Costin Paval/Dane Webb (OU) def. #27 Chris Camillone/David Holiner (UT) - 8-5
2 #71 Tsvetan Mihov/Peerakit Siributwong (OU) def. #50 Ben Chen/Daniel Whitehead (UT) - 8-3
3 Alex Hilliard/Sudanwa Sitaram (UT) def. Lawrence Formentera/David Pultr (OU) - 8-7 (6)
Singles - Order of Finish: 2, 5, 6, 1, 4, 3
1 #17 Costin Paval (OU) def. #64 Soren Hess-Olesen (UT) - 6-2, 6-3
2 #90 Guillermo Alcorta (OU) def. #97 Daniel Whitehead (UT) - 6-2, 6-1
3 Sudanwa Sitaram (UT) def. Tsvetan Mihov (OU) - 7-6 (5), 1-6, 1-0 (10-8)
4 #82 Peerakit Siributwong (OU) def. Lloyd Glasspool (UT) - 6-1, 6-3
5 Dane Webb (OU) def. Ben Chen (UT) - 6-2, 6-0
6 David Holiner (UT) def. David Pultr (OU) - 6-3, 6-0
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
On the match: I give Oklahoma credit. They played well. We have had some guys with little injuries, and we didn't train as well over the last couple weeks. I though this time we'd get healthy, but we struggled a little bit and they (Oklahoma) exposed it tonight. Overall, they just outplayed us.
On the victories from David Holiner and Sudanwa Sitaram: Those guys have been fighting all year and have been pulling matches out. David Holiner's confidence continues to grow, and Sudanwa Sitaram is just finding a way to win these matches. I'd like to see him continue to stay aggressive throughout the match, but those guys have done great and I can't fault them at all.
