OSU Men’s Tennis Dominates Against Saint Louis and Oral Roberts
Perfection is a myth, but Oklahoma State got as close to it as possible.
On Saturday, OSU capped off a doubleheader with a 7-0 win against Oral Roberts in Stillwater. The men’s tennis team dominated throughout the afternoon and evening at the Greenwood Tennis Center.
Although the Cowboys were slightly sharper in their first win against Saint Louis, they made another statement against the Golden Eagles. In that first game, the Cowboys (6-2 overall) did not lose any sets.
OSU also won every set against ORU (0-3), but that looked unlikely until the final moments of the match. With OSU leading 5-0, Ty Wunderlich and Leighton Allen had already won their first sets.
Wunderlich sprinted to a 5-1 lead in the second set before eventually finishing with a 6-4, 6-2 win. Allen faced a different fate, falling behind 5-3 in the second set against ORU’s Cayden Creek.
Allen rallied and won the next three games and went on to win his match 6-1, 7-6. OSU’s pursuit of perfection came down to those two after players like Tyler Zink had already won.
Zink and Goran Zgola led 5-4 in their doubles match when OSU won the point. Zink did not let anyone finish before him in singles.
Beating Gustavo Pinho 6-1, 6-1, Zink scored the Cowboys’ first singles point, and others soon followed. Zink's dominant performances came after underwhelming matches against Texas and UCLA.
“I had a rough last weekend and against UCLA, but I was happy to be able to bounce back today, work on some things,” Zink said. “I watched a lot of film and took a few specifics here and there to work on today, and I felt like I did a good job of putting them into play today.”
Isaac Becroft was another Cowboy who had a dominant performance against ORU. Alongside Alessio Basile, Becroft dominated doubles on Court 2 and finished first with a 6-2 win against Eli Brewer and Aaron Brewer.
“I think we had a couple of days where we focused just on doubles a few hours each day,” Becroft said. “And, yeah, I think it reflected well today.”
Becorft easily won his singles match against Ricardo Filho 6-1, 6-0. After losses to Texas and UCLA, Becroft admitted it was nice to play against opponents not on that level.
“Obviously, it helps not playing, I guess, such great guys,” Becroft said. “But it’s always good to get confidence. A win’s a win, especially against D1 programs.”
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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.