Men's Tennis Prepped to Host Tennessee, Texas A&M

NORMAN – The No. 26 Oklahoma men's tennis team is set to host two top 20 teams this weekend as they take on No. 18 Tennessee on Friday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m. and No. 12 Texas A&M on Sunday, March 2 at noon.

Friday's match is the first Friday Night Lights competition of the season and free t-shirts will be available for fans in attendance while supplies last. Sunday's match is the annual pet-friendly Bark in the Park day and fans can enjoy a free cookout before the match.

MATCH DAY BASICS

The Sooners' 2025 home matches at the Headington Family Tennis Center will be open to the public and free of charge. Due to the elimination of concessions, fans are encouraged to bring their own food and drinks. OU also follows a clear bag policy.

Fans can keep up on the action with live stats or watch on Playsight.

LAST TIME OUT

Oklahoma opened conference play against Arkansas and won the contest, 6-1. The win moves the Sooners to a 9-4 overall record against the Razorbacks.

OU opened the match with two dominant doubles matches. Bruno Nhavene and Oscar Lacides won 6-2, as did teammates Asahi Harazaki and Alejandro Melero. After going ahead 1-0 in the dual, Luis Alvarez dominated at the three singles line, 6-1, 6-1. Soon after, Orel Kimhi took a 6-2, 6-2 win to put the third point on the board for the Sooners.

The clinching point came at the one position as Oscar Lacides took a hard-fought 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win in three sets. The freshman is now 8-2 on the season, with six wins coming in the primary spot.

Melero took the last singles win for OU as he took a win in the third set, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Arkansas' lone point came at the two line where Kholo Montsi fell short in two set tiebreaks, 6-7(6), 6-7(4).

IN THE RANKINGS

The Sooners (8-2, 1-0 SEC) sit at the No. 26 spot in the ITA team rankings.

In the most recent ITA singles rankings, Alvarez is ranked No. 96 and Lacides is No. 123. Alvarez has a perfect 3-0 record at the three line but has also represented Oklahoma in the one and two spots. Lacides primarily plays in the one position and is 8-2 on the season.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Freshman Lacides leads Oklahoma with eight wins on the season, with six wins coming at the one singles line. In his fall campaign, Lacides claimed an ITA Central Region Champion title in both singles and doubles. The Frenchman also won the Norman Open doubles draw with teammate Bruno Nhavene.

After being tabbed the No. 10 newcomer in the country, Lacides began the spring season ranked No. 73 nationally. He holds the most productive record for the Sooners this year with a 16-5 record to include fall results.

S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!

Oklahoma heads into its first season in the SEC after joining the conference on July 1, 2025. Seven conference matches will take place on Sooner home courts, including matches against Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and LSU.

The Sooners reunite with their former Big 12 opponents Texas A&M as the teams are once again in the same conference. Last time the Sooners and Aggies faced off, OU came out on top, 5-2.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS

Tennessee sits at the No. 18 spot in the ITA team rankings and posts a 9-3 record on the season.

Shunsuke Mitsui leads the Volunteers in the ITA singles rankings at No. 16, followed by Alex Kotzen at No. 31 and Alejandro Moreno at No. 95. In doubles, Tennessee is represented by Moreno and Kotzen at No. 26.

The Sooners faced Tennessee in last season's ITA Kickoff Weekend championship match where they fell short, 1-4. Oklahoma has not hosted the Vols since 2020, where the Sooners took a narrow loss, 3-4.

The Aggies will be back in Norman for another ranked matchup. The team is currently No. 12 in the country with a 7-4 record.

Last season, OU claimed an upset win over the then-No. 8 Aggies, 5-2, in front of a home crowd.

This year, Texas A&M is represented by JC Roddick and Theo Papamalamis in the ITA singles rankings. Roddick is No. 37 and Papamalamis is No. 42. Three doubles pairs are ranked for the Aggies. Tongan Tokac and Giulio Perego sit at the No. 24 spot, Tokac and Papamalamis are No. 34 and Tokac and Luke Casper are No. 35.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma hosts Florida on Thursday, March 6, at 5 p.m. before they head out for a stretch of road matches.

FOLLOW THE SOONERS

For updates, follow @OU_MTennis on Instagram and X or like Oklahoma Men's Tennis on Facebook.