Cowboy Tennis Continues to Struggle in Doubles Play
Although Oklahoma State has been successful this season, winning the doubles point has been a struggle.
The Cowboys trailed early in their 4-3 loss against UCLA in Stillwater on Tuesday at the Greenwood Tennis Center. That deficit to begin the game was thanks to UCLA’s win in doubles.
After beginning the season with back-to-back doubles wins, the Cowboys (4-2 overall) have won only one in their past four matches. The team’s slippage in that area is the top concern for OSU coach Dustin Taylor.
“The real concerning thing is the doubles point,” Taylor said. “You know, we’ve been blown out back-to-back matches there and there’s no excuse. These guys are better than that.”
Court 3 was a lost cause for OSU, with Leighton Allen and Erik Schiessl falling 6-2. However, that set was OSU’s last hope. With one set won, UCLA’s Govind Nanda and Alexander Hoogmartens were in control throughout and needed to finish.
Although the set went well for UCLA (2-2), the match came to a sudden halt when Hoogmartens hit Nanda in the head with the ball on a return. Nanda fell to the floor and stayed down for a few moments before getting up and continuing to play.
Allen and Schiessl extended the set after falling behind substantially, but a comeback was not in the cards. The reason OSU needed a comeback was the efforts of Alessio Basile and Isaac Becroft.
In their 6-4 loss to the Bruins’ Spencer Johnson and Emon van Loben Sels, they played a back-and-forth set. However, the Cowboys could not convert in the final moments to get a victory.
“No. 2 pairing of Basile and Becroft, they played well last year together,” Taylor said. “But they haven’t had a lot of experience or a lot of big moments together.”
Part of the Bruins’ success in the doubles sets was their hard overhead returns. By smashing the ball onto the Cowboys’ side of the court, the Bruins scored each time they attempted the strategy.
“You know, that’s indoor tennis,” Taylor said. “Who can take care of their serve and if they get an opportunity on the return, take it.”
The lone bright spot for the Cowboys in doubles was Tyler Zink and Alex Garcia, whose set was 4-4 against Timothy Li and Giacomo Revelli. Although the pair’s performance was not enough on its own, Garcia still seemed confident in the team’s ability to win in doubles.
“We are really good in doubles, it’s just not working at the moment,” Garcia said.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.