Cowboy Tennis Makes Doubles Comeback, Shuts Out Drake
Oklahoma State was in trouble early but turned things around to take control of the match.
OSU beat Drake 7-0 in men’s tennis at Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater on Saturday. OSU extended its winning streak to five after overcoming adversity to begin the match.
Midway through the doubles point, Drake led on every court. Although that may have been enough to beat OSU a few weeks ago, OSU coach Dustin Taylor’s team rebounded for a win.
OSU’s duo of Tyler Zink and Alex Garcia lost 6-2 on Court 1 to Drake’s No. 48 doubles team of Matija Matic and Oliver Johansson. When OSU has lost in doubles this season, typically, that duo has been a bright spot. Instead, Zink and Garcia needed their teammates to get the win.
“Zink and Garcia, I think they started off the year and the partnership 6-0 or 7-0, so they were due,” Taylor said. “Indoor doubles, everybody can play. Those guys are big guys serving well.”
With the Court 3 pairing of Goran Zgola and Francisco Pini trailing 6-5 in the set and 40-30 in the game, Jeremy Schifris and Olle Sonesson Lidholt looked poised to win the doubles point for Drake (6-4 overall).
“It felt like we had an extra pressure, for sure, but at the same time, I enjoy that pressure,” Pini said.
Zgola and Pini won every point after to win their set 7-6 and give OSU a 1-0 lead.
“It helps a lot because I haven’t been playing a lot of matches for a long time because I’ve been injured,” Zgola said. “So, obviously, winning doubles like that is a huge, huge confidence boost.”
To put OSU (9-2) in that position, Isaac Becroft and Alessio Basile had to overcome a 3-2 deficit on Court 2. As it has throughout the season, Becroft and Basile’s chemistry showed as they came back to win the set 6-4.
Drake’s Matt Clegg and Markus Bolin could not hold on to win Court 2. The Bulldogs’ duo started strong like the others, but OSU’s experience in similar situations this season was too much to overcome.
OSU would like to win the doubles point in a less stressful way, but getting wins in these situations indicates how the team has improved. Plus, for players such as Zgola, it can provide momentum going into the next match.
“That was like the first time that everything was dependent on me, on us,” Zgola said. “It stressed me out a little bit more, but at the same time, I feel like it gave me crazy motivation to just push through and win this match.”
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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.