TULSA, Okla. – The Oklahoma State men’s tennis team fell to the UAB Blazers, 4-3, on Saturday inside the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa.
The Cowboys (3-2) split the singles points with UAB (4-2), but the Blazers were able to open the dual with victories in two of the three doubles matches to take the doubles point. UAB’s duo of Tom Puetz and David Zimmerman pulled off an 8-6 upset of the Cowboys 46th-ranked duo of Rifat Biktyakov and Vlad Bondarenko, handing the Cowboy tandem its first loss of the season.
Senior Eric West closed out the day with a hard-fought victory at No. 3 singles against Chris Helliar. West took the first set, 6-4, before Helliar battled back to win the second set, 7-5. West won the decisive third set, 7-5, to pick up his fourth win of the year.
No. 116 Bondarenko also had a close match, taking Danny Manlow to three sets. Bondarenko won the first set, 6-4, but dropped the second, 6-3. He took the third set in a tie breaker, 7-6.
Freshman Chris Haworth, ranked No. 115, beat Daniel Moser at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 6-4.
The Cowboys returns to action on Tuesday, Feb. 28, when they take on Liberty at 2 p.m. in Stillwater.
UAB 4, Oklahoma State 3 Feb. 25, 2012 | Tulsa, Okla. | Case Tennis Center
DOUBLES | Order of finish: 3, 2, 1 No. 1 – Tom Puetz/David Zimmerman (UAB) def. No. 46 Rifat Biktyakov/Vlad Bondarenko (OSU), 8-6 No. 2 – Chris Haworth/Eric West (OSU) def. Danny Manlow/Daniel Moser (UAB), 8-6 No. 3 – Lucas Dirube/Chris Helliar (UAB) def. Adolfo Aires/Trevor Horstmann (OSU), 8-2
SINGLES | Order of finish: 6, 4, 2, 5, 1, 3 No. 1 – No. 116 Vlad Bondarenko (OSU) def. Danny Manlow (UAB), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 No. 2 – David Zimmerman (UAB) def. No. 112 Rifat Biktyakov (OSU), 7-5, 6-3 No. 3 – Eric West (OSU) def. Chris Helliar (UAB), 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 No. 4 – No. 115 Chris Haworth (OSU) def. Daniel Moser (UAB), 6-4, 6-4 No. 5 – Lucas Dirube (UAB) def. Trevor Horstmann (OSU), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 No. 6 – Tom Puetz (UAB) def. Adolfo Aires (OSU), 6-2, 6-2
