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Aggies take Sooners to the wire
NORMAN, Oklahoma (March 25) – Coming off an incredible week with wins over some of the top teams in the nation, the nationally ranked #11 Cameron Aggie men’s tennis team (11-2) today made the short trip to Norman to take on a stout University of Oklahoma Sooner squad.
Although the Aggies had the Sooners on the ropes for most of the afternoon, they could not leave town with the victory as OU ended up winning the team match 5-4. There were a number of very close matches and some great tennis was played by the Aggie men.
“We played real well. I look at these kinds of matches like having to climb a mountain in order to win,” Head Coach James Helvey said. “We faced adversity and some tough, tough players, but played very good tennis.”
After the three doubles matches concluded early in the afternoon, the Aggies found themselves up 2-1 thanks to wins in two of the three doubles matches. Cameron’s winning continued when they went up 4-2 after the first three singles matches. At that point the Aggies were one match away from the victory with three matches left on the court.
Unfortunately the Sooners swept the final three singles matches to win the overall match, 5-4. The University of Oklahoma competes in the Big Twelve Conference in the NCAA Division I. OU is currently ranked #61 nationally in Division I, in which nearly 400 men’s tennis programs compete.
“When you get near the top and it’s tied at four matches each, you want to hit the summit,” Coach Helvey said. “You have a bad taste in your mouth when you get beat 5-4, but when you step back and sleep on it you realize you played real well. We know we can compete at a high level and we feel good about it.”
Things started out great for the Aggies after the doubles team of senior Ignacio Murgier and junior Saman Samii won the No. 2 doubles match. The match was extremely close but Cameron recorded the 9-7 victory.
Junior Cristian Easton helped to continue the winning trend for the Aggies and was the only player to win both his singles and doubles matches. Easton had a fabulous day on the court for CU, which began after he and teammate Nicolas Mascheroni, a senior, won the No. 3 doubles match, 8-6.
Easton then went on to win the No. 5 singles match in impressive fashion 6-2, 6-4. Although not indicated by his score, Easton’s singles match lasted nearly two full hours.
“Cristian is a fighter,” Coach Helvey said. “He grinded out the wins and he never quit. He kept battling and wore his opponent down in a very long, but good match.”
Cameron’s other victory this afternoon came in the No. 2 singles match. Senior Jordi Mullor really played outstanding in the match as he defeated his opponent 6-3, 6-2.
The Cameron Aggie men’s and women’s tennis teams host the Patriots of Dallas Baptist University tomorrow afternoon at the Cameron University Tennis Center. The matches between the two teams are scheduled to begin at 1:00pm.
“DBU has a good program,” Coach Helvey said. “But we are pretty strong. It should be a fun match.”
Parking and admission is always free at all home matches at the CU Tennis Center.
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