STILLWATER, Okla. – The Memphis Tigers men’s tennis team suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Sunday afternoon at the Greenwood Tennis Center, extending Memphis’ losing streak to two matches.
The Cowboys, ranked 27th nationally, improved to 9-2 on the season while Memphis fell to 7-5. Oklahoma State has now won all eight of its home matches this season.
The afternoon began with doubles play, where Oklahoma State quickly gained the upper hand. Freshman Haydar Gokpinar and Nicolas Kobelt defeated Memphis’ Lasse Rensing and Leandro Zgraggen 6-3 on court three. The Cowboys clinched the doubles point moments later as Alessio Basile and Ian Bracks bested Obrad Markovski and Marko Milosavljevic 6-3 on court two. A match between Memphis’ Marcos Castro Fabra and Sam Reeve against Oklahoma State’s Derek Pham and Charlie Valentine was left unfinished, tied at four games apiece.
Oklahoma State carried their momentum into singles play. Cowboy freshman Charlie Valentine secured the first point of the match with a decisive 6-1, 6-2 victory over Memphis’ Keoni Puig McCallan on court five. Nicolas Kobelt followed with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Memphis’ Marcos Castro Fabra on court two, marking Castro Fabra’s first singles loss of the season. The match was clinched by Oklahoma State’s Haydar Gokpinar, who defeated Memphis freshman Sean O Nuallain 6-1, 6-4 on court six.
Several other singles matches went unfinished. Maxime Dubouch was trailing Alessio Basile 6-7 (4), 0-2 when the match was halted. Obrad Markovski was behind Derek Pham 3-6, 2-4, and Leandro Zgraggen was tied with Ian Bracks at 2-6, 4-4.
Memphis will have a week off before resuming competition on March 10, when they travel to San Diego for a 2 p.m. Match against an opponent yet to be determined.
