(TEMPE, Arizona – March 7, 2017) - The Oklahoma State men's tennis team reached its highest-recorded ranking in team history on Tuesday, as the Cowboys climbed one spot to No. 4 in the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Team Rankings.
Oklahoma State has now been ranked inside the ITA's top-30 for 32 consecutive weeks, which includes being ranked in the top 15 for the duration of the season up to this point. OSU's historic ranking comes just one week after the Cowboys matched the program's previous-best mark at No. 5.
“We’ve had a solid start through the first half of our season and it’s nice to see that be rewarded in the rankings, but we still have a lot of matches left to be played,” head coach Jay Udwadia said. “Right now, it’s just a number and we have to stay focused on the matches coming up. We’re on the right track and we’re going to continue to do our best to represent Oklahoma State in the best way possible."
Along with the program's highest-recorded ranking, five Cowboys also hold spots in this week's individual rankings. Julian Cash leads the pack in the ITA singles rankings as he currently sits at No. 22.
Cash is joined in the singles rankings by Lukas Finzelberg, who jumped 40 spots to No. 62, and his doubles partner Arjun Kadhe, who sits at a career-best No. 54 this week. Lucas Gerch rounds out a quartet of Cowboys in singles as he re-enters the rankings at No. 124 this week.
Cash and Kadhe also hold a spot in the doubles rankings, moving up one spot to No. 3 in this week's rankings. The All-American duo has been ranked in the top five for the entirety of the 2016-17 season up to this point.
Kadhe is also ranked in doubles with fellow senior Lucas Gerch after they stormed through the field at last weekend's 128th Annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship. The senior tandem, going from unranked No. 31, picked up six wins over three days of play in California, including two victories over ranked duos, en route to winning the title.
Their triumph marked the third-straight year that an OSU tandem has won the prestigious tournament, with Gerch and Nicolai Ferrigno winning in 2015, and Kadhe taking the crown with Julian Cash last season.
Gerch, like Kadhe, also holds a second doubles ranking, as he and Jurence Mendoza currently occupy the No. 71 spot.
Oklahoma State will continue its spring season this weekend when the Cowboys host No. 33 Memphis on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The Cowboys' matchup against the Tigers will mark their first match at the Michael and Anne Greenwood Tennis Center since a doubleheader on February 12, 2017.
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