When you talk about the elite programs in college tennis Oklahoma is one of the first names that comes to mind and that’s all thanks to the recruiting and player development that’s been done by head coach John Roddick and his staff over the last 6 years. Roddick was hired on June 19, 2009 and since then OU has been on an upward trajectory winning 19, 16, 19, 21, 28, and 29 matches in each of the last 6 seasons.
After years of being an also-ran in the Big 12 behind the likes of Baylor, Texas, and Texas A&M, the Oklahoma Sooners are now the ones being chased after winning the conference tournament 3 of the last 4 years. In the same 4-year period OU has also claimed 3 regular season conference titles (2 shared), won the National Team Indoor Championships, and made it to the NCAA Championship finals in each of the last 2 years.
Roddick brought in a pair of guys last week to replace Webb and Salazar – Hungary’s Andre Biro, who was a Washington commit, and France’s Maxime Mora. Biro saw his first collegiate action at the MLK Invitational and picked up wins over Georgia Tech’s Daniel Yun and Ole Miss’s Fabian Fallert while Mora may make his debut next weekend during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. I’d expect Biro to compete with Austin Siegel for the #6 singles spot with Mora probably just a hair behind those two.
 |
| Axel Alvarez (Picture from SoonerSports.Com) |
#60 Axel Alvarez (Sr) returns for his senior season after going an amazing 25-1 in dual-match play last season with his time split between #1 and #2 singles. Alvarez only played in 1 fall tournament picking up a pair of wins in the consolation draw at the Oracle/ITA Masters. Alvarez knocked off the dust this past weekend at the MLK Invitational going 2-1 with wins over #28 Austin Smith (Georiga) and Gustav Hansson (Ole Miss).
Andrew Harris (Jr) split time between #1 and #2 last season going 18-7 but he ran out of steam in the NCAAs losing his last 3 completed matches. Harris has been nursing a few injuries and didn’t play at all in the summer or fall so it’ll be interesting to see what he looks like when he does return.
 |
| “The Machine” Alex Ghilea (Pic From OU) |
#92 Alex Ghilea (Jr) was the only Sooner to play extensively this fall winning as many matches (9) as the rest of the team combined. Ghilea went 3-4 versus ranked opponents this fall and won the USTA/ITA Central Regional and also earned a spot at the National Indoor Intercollegiates. Ghilea went 2-1 at the MLK Invitational picking up wins over #105 Walker Duncan (Georgia) and Carlos Benito (Georgia Tech) while losing to #36 Stefan Lindmark (Ole Miss).
Spencer Papa (So) joined the team last January and after a slow start he warmed up and went 14-10 in dual-match play including a 4-1 record in his final 5. While the majority of his matches last season came at #5, I think this season he’ll be up at #4 after Dane Webb graduated. Papa went 3-2 this fall with all 5 of those results coming at the Cajun Classic. This past weekend he picked up wins over Filip Kraljevic (Ole Miss) and Nathan Rakitt (Georgia Tech) at the MLK Invitational.
Florin Bragusi (Jr) is coming off a season where he went 11-3 in dual-match play with 12 of those 14 results coming at #6 singles. Bragusi, like Papa, only played in one fall tournament which was the Cajun Classic. Bragusi put up some nice results at the MLK Invitational by picking up wins over Cole Fiegel (Georgia Tech) and Grey Hamilton (Ole Miss).
Austin Siegel (Sr) will be in the mix at #6 singles after only seeing limited action last year. Siegel went 3-1 in the fall including a ranked win over #109 Jerry Lopez (TCU). Siegel went 1-1 at the MLK Invitational beating Ricardo Jorge (Ole Miss) while falling to Jan Zielinski (Georgia).
Oklahoma will be as good in the 1 through 5 spots as anyone however it looks like #6 singles will be a work in progress. The #6 spot in the lineup produced a 17-6 record last year but with OU playing a tough schedule I’m expecting a little bit off a drop off and something like 12-12 may be a little more accurate.
Oklahoma went 18-14 in doubles last year but did win the point in 3 of its final 4 matches with the loss coming to Virginia in the NCAA finals. Oklahoma was able to overcome the loss of the doubles point 11 times however in each of its 3 losses it dropped the point. It’s tough to figure out who Roddick will pair up since most of the guys didn’t play much over the fall so we’ll have to wait until the Kick-Off Weekend to see who takes the court.
Below are each players summer/fall college records (singles/doubles) along with a list of accomplishments. The ranking listed in front of a player is their ITA rankings as of 1/6. Andrew Harris didn’t play in the fall.
#92 Alex Ghilea (9-4/0-1) – won the USTA/ITA Central Regional beating #68 Julian Cash (Ok St) in the finals and #112 Arjun Kadhe (Ok St) in the quarterfinals; also beat #47 Robert Kelly (UNC) at the ITA All-Americans
Spencer Papa (3-2/0-1) – beat #105 Walker Duncan (Georgia) in the consolation draw at the Cajun Classic
Florin Bragusi (1-2/0-1) – won a consolation match at the Cajun Classic; earned an ATP point at the Houston USA F30 Futures (Oct-Hard); made the singles quarterfinals at the Romania F6, F8, and F9 Futures over the summer with each on clay
Austin Siegel (3-1/0-3) – beat #109 Jerry Lopez (TCU) at the Cajun Classic and went 2-0 in singles at the Bulldog Scramble
Andre Biro (joined team in January) – earned ATP points by making the quarterfinals at the Serbia F11 Futures (Sept-Clay), making the second round at the Greece F7 (Oct-Hard), Serbia F13 (Oct-Clay), Serbia F7 and F8 Futures (Aug-Clay)
Maxime Mora (joined team in January) – earned ATP points by making the quarterfinals at the Egypt F33 and F34 Futures (Oct-Hard) as well as the second round at the France F23 Futures (Oct-Hard)
John Milestead (0-6/0-2) – participated in the ITA All-American pre-qualifiers and the USTA/ITA Central Regional
Projected Depth Chart:
1. Axel Alvarez
2. Andrew Harris
3. Alex Ghilea
4. Spencer Papa
5. Florin Bragusi
6. Andre Biro
7. Austin Siegel
8. Maxime Mora
9. John Milstead
Players With A Current ATP Singles Ranking as of 1/18/16 – high in ( )
#1123 – Andrew Harris (483)
#1130 – Florin Bragusi (936)
#1155 – Andre Biro (1116)
#1170 – Axel Alvarez (1051)
#1282 – Maxime Mora (1268)
#1437 – Spencer Papa (858)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 1/18/16:
14.71 – Axel Alvarez
14.70 – Andrew Harris
14.17 – Alex Ghilea
14.01 – Spencer Papa
13.71 – Florin Bragusi
13.71 – Andrew Biro
13.50 – Maxime Mora
13.13 – Austin Siegel
10.03 – John Milstead (20%)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 6/3/15
15.17 – Axel Alvarez
14.85 – Andrew Harris
14.33 – Alex Ghilea
14.20 – Spencer Papa
13.85 – Andrew Biro
13.68 – Florin Bragusi
12.60 – Austin Siegel (40%)
10.43 – John Milstead
**didn’t make note of Mora’s UTR in June
Pre-College Ratings/Rankings:
Peak ITF Junior Ranking:
#6 – Andrew Harris
#15 – Spencer Papa
#38 – Andre Biro
#46 – Alex Ghilea
#57 – Axel Alvarez
#62 – Austin Siegel
#103 – Maxime Mora
#134 – Florin Bragusi
TennisRecruiting.Net Star Rating/High Ranking (Americans Only)
Blue Chip #3 – Spencer Papa
Blue Chip #5 – Austin Siegel
TRN Yearly Recruiting Rankings:
2015 – NR – (Biro, Mora)
2014 – NR – (Papa, Milstead)
2013 – #13 – (Harris, Ghilea, Bragusi, Grey, Salazar)
2012 – NR – (Alvarez, Siegel)
NR = Not Ranked
2016-17 Recruiting Class:
None at the moment
Departing singles starters: Dane Webb (3)
Departing doubles starters: Webb (2), Salazar (3)
Departing depth: Nick Papac, Jose Salazar (Transferred to Arkansas)
Oklahoma’s tremendous season came to an end with a loss a 4-1 loss to Virginia in the NCAA Championship Finals. Oklahoma fell behind early in the doubles point and ended up losing all 3 courts with the final 2 having a simultaneous finish. Oklahoma needed to win 4 singles matches but they could only get 1 before Virginia’s Mitchell Frank clinched the title at #2. Spencer Papa got the only point for OU with a win at #5 and it looked like Axel Alvarez would get one too but he got broke serving for the match at #1 just before Frank clinched – full detailed recap
6. Florin Bragusi (OU) vs. J.C. Aragone(UVA) 7-6 (5), 4-6, 1-0, UF
Latest Comments