The dynamic duo of OU aces Alexei Ivanov and Marek Velicka won the doubles championship at the ITA Central Regional Championships in Tulsa after an undefeated weekend on the hard-court.
The tandem combined to go 5-0 and took the title after a hard-fought 8-6 win in the championship match against Tulsa on Monday.
"It feels great to win," Ivanov said. "It makes all the hard work and practice really pay off."
The pair hog-tied an Arkansas doubles team in the semifinals on Sunday to make it to the title match.
Head coach Paul Lockwood said he was extremely impressed at the play from Ivanov and Velicka.
"They played some of the best sets of doubles of any OU team in recent years," he said.
With the win, the twosome automatically qualifies for the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships next month.
Ivanov, in his final season as a Sooner, has high expectations for the upcoming tournament.
"Marek and I have great chemistry on the court," he said. "We compliment each other well. We can beat anybody. We expect to win every match."
Other Results
In other action from the weekend, defending singles champion Marek Velicka made it to the singles semifinals before being defeated by Oklahoma State's Daniel Byrnes.
"Overall, I'm happy that I made it to the semifinals because it's a quality tournament," Velicka said.
Velicka overcame teammate and true freshman Cale Planck in the round of 16 to advance to the semifinals.
"Cale played great this weekend. It was really good experience for all of the new guys," Alexei Ivanov said.
Ivanov, Tommy Garrison and Lee Gregg made it to the round of 32 before being knocked out.
Women's Action
Several OU women's tennis players also competed this weekend in the women's ITA Central Regional Championships in Salt Lake City.
Junior Irina Lykina fell in straight sets in the round of 32 in the main singles draw. Gabby Baker advanced to the round of 16, but lost a close match in three sets.
The men's and women's teams will wrap up their fall seasons at the ITA National Indoor Championships, Nov. 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio.
hello there & you too
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register