Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Sacramento State
Cowboy Netters Dominate in First Win
February 13, 2011 | Cowboy Tennis
Feb. 13, 2011
TULSA, Okla. – The No. 55 Oklahoma State men's tennis team picked up its first win of the 2011 season in dominating fashion Sunday, knocking off Sacramento State, 6-1, at Tulsa's Case Tennis Center.
The Cowboys, now 1-3 on the year, were the first on the board after they swept all three doubles matches by a combined score of 24-10. The ninth-ranked duo of Aleksey Bessonov and Rifat Biktyakov maintained their perfect dual record with an 8-3 win on the No. 1 court.
The one-sided competition continued into singles play, where Biktyakov, Vlad Bondarenko, Bessonov, Eric West and Ilija Martinoski, playing Nos. 2-6, respectively, all rolled to straight-set victories over their Sacramento State opponents to seal OSU's first dual win of the year.
OSU's No. 1 singles player, Maniel Bains, nearly made it a perfect day for the Cowboys with a big upset at the top spot, but the freshman fell in a 10-8 tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets against Sacrameto State's Kiryl Harbatsiuk, the 16th-ranked player in the nation.
Oklahoma State resumes play next weekend as it travels to Las Vegas, Nev., to face both UNLV and UC Irvine.
#55 Oklahoma State 6, Sacramento State 1
DOUBLES | Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
No. 1 - #9 Aleksey Bessonov/Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. Kiryl Harbatsiuk/Marko Starcevic (SACMEN), 8-3
No. 2 - Maniel Bains/Vlad Bondarenko (OSU) def. Javier Millan/Aliaksandr Malko (SACMEN), 8-2
No. 3 - Ilija Martinoski/Eric West (OSU) def. Josh Lorentzen/Jason Smith (SACMEN), 8-5
SINGLES | Order of finish: 2, 5, 3*, 6, 1, 4
No. 1 - #16 Kiryl Harbatsiuk (SACMEN) def. Maniel Bains (OSU), 1-6, 6-2, 10-8
No. 2 - Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. Jason Smith (SACMEN), 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 - Vlad Bondarenko (OSU) def. Marko Starcevic (SACMEN), 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 - Aleksey Bessonov (OSU) def. Aliaksandr Malko (SACMEN), 6-1, 7-5
No. 5 - Eric West (OSU) def. Javier Millan (SACMEN), 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 - Ilija Martinoski (OSU) def. Josh Lorentzen (SACMEN), 6-4, 6-2
Players Mentioned
