Despite threats of inclement weather throughout the weekend, No. 5 Texas opened conference play with two wins against Oklahoma State and Oklahoma on Friday and Sunday, respectively, at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
The Longhorns (15-4, 2-0 Big 12) entered Friday's match with a bitter taste in their mouths, having lost a close one to top 10 opponent USC the previous week. Texas opened play Friday with singles matches, which was played first due to inclement weather, and registered five of six singles victories against the Cowboys.
Freshman Kellen Damico gave Texas a 1-0 start after blowing out 34th-ranked Ivan Puchkarov 6-2, 6-0 with little difficulty. Miguel Reyes Varela tacked on another point to Texas' lead with a solid 6-3, 6-2 win at the sixth spot over opponent Mark Kepler.
The Cowboys took the next match at first singles but the Longhorns swept the next three and clinched the team victory as the two teams headed into doubles play.
OSU stole the first match but Texas came right back, winning the next two and posting a 6-1 victory for the day.
"This was a nice win over a tremendous team," Texas coach Michael Center said. "I was really pleased to see Miguel play so well. Overall, it was a nice start to the conference season."
Texas took that "nice" start and extended it to Sunday's match-up against Oklahoma. The match, which was set to begin at 1 p.m., was delayed for an hour as the weather seemed unfavorable.
Freshman Ed Corrie got the ball rolling for the Longhorns in singles play by putting up a 6-2, 6-0 win at the third position over Vlad Marinescu. Damico and Dimitar Kutrovsky disposed of their opponents in short order, allowing senior Luis Diaz Barriga to clinch the match for Texas at fourth singles with a 7-5, 6-2 win over OU's Federico Chavarria.
Milan Mihailovic posted a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win at fifth singles over Alexandru Joitoui and Reyes Varela defeated Ryan Thomas 7-5, 6-3 as the Longhorns headed into doubles play with a 5-0 lead.
As effortlessly as they did in singles play, the Longhorns sped through their doubles matches with ease, registering three dominating wins over OU despite experimenting with new pairs at all three positions. The Sooners were sent packing after senior Hubert Chodkiewicz and sophomore Jon Wiegand made their conference debut at third doubles, defeating Sergey Avdeyev and Joitoui 8-2.
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