This weekend the Longhorns will begin their quest for a conference title against No. 21 Oklahoma and No. 75 Oklahoma State.
Texas will take on the Sooners in Austin tonight at 6 p.m., and then take on the Cowboys at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Today’s showdown looks to be a good match, as there are six ranked singles players and four ranked doubles teams between the two teams. Texas is led by No. 64 freshman Soren Hess-Olesen and junior Daniel Whitehead, who is No. 97 in singles. In doubles, the team is led by the No. 27 ranked duo of junior Chris Camillone and sophomore David Holiner, followed by junior Ben Chen and Whitehead at the No. 50 spot.
Oklahoma is led by No. 17 Costin Pavel, No. 82 Peerakit Siributwong, No. 90 Guillermo Alcorta and No. 94 Dane Webb in the singles lineup. In doubles, the duo of Paval and Webb are ranked No. 13, while Tsvetan Mihov and Siributwong are ranked No. 71.
The Sooners (10-3) are coming off a 7-0 shutout over TCU and a 5-2 win over No. 18 Tulsa in their last appearances on court. Texas started their match against Tulsa last week, but weren’t able to finish the match because of a rain delay. However, Camillone and Holiner were able to get the upset over the then-ranked No. 5 doubles team, which was also defeated by Oklahoma’s No. 13 duo earlier that weekend.
Although Texas didn’t get to finish the match against Tulsa, they were able to come back and defeat UT-Permian Basin 6-0 to give head coach Michael Center his 400th career win.
This matchup is also important in terms of conference standings. The Longhorns are picked to finish on top in conference play, followed by the Sooners in second place. Oklahoma’s three losses came against Ole Miss, Pepperdine and Virginia, who also handed the Longhorns one of their five losses on the season so far.
Oklahoma State will start their conference play against No. 25 Texas A&M today, and will then travel to Austin to face the Longhorns. The Cowboys defeated Creighton earlier this week to move to 7-7 on the season and are ranked No. 75. the road.
Printed on Friday, March 30, 2012 as: Texas opens conference play against Red River rivals OU
