Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma Tennis: OU Men Begin NCAA Championship Run Ranked 14th

By Chip Rouse

Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; A member of the against the Oklahoma Sooners Ruf/Neks runs the field with flag after a Sooners score against the Auburn Tigers in the fourth quarter of the 2017 Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; A member of the against the Oklahoma Sooners Ruf/Neks runs the field with flag after a Sooners score against the Auburn Tigers in the fourth quarter of the 2017 Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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We don’t often write about Oklahoma tennis, except around this time of year when the Sooner men have made it a recent habit of going far in the NCAA Tennis Championships.

On May 12, the 14th-ranked Oklahoma men will host their eighth consecutive NCAA Regional in Division I men’s tennis. The Sooners have won their regional the last four years, and for the past three consecutive years, OU has finished as the runner-up in the NCAA Championship finals.

The Sooners have risen to the top stage in college tennis in each of the past three seasons, losing to USC in the national championship match in 2014, and to the Virginia Cavaliers in each of the last two years. OU was the No. 1 overall seed in the 2015 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships.

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OU will play host to Bryant University, champions of the Northeast Conference out of Smithfield, R.I. The Bulldogs, 12-13 in dual competition this season, will be the Sooners’ opponent on Friday at OU’s Headington Family Tennis Center. SMU (13-11) and Mississippi State (20-8) will square off in the other Friday match.

Mississippi State is the No. 2 seed in the Norman Regional; SMU is the No. 3 seed. Both schools reached the Sweet 16 round a year ago. Mississippi State lost to Georgia, the 13 seed in this year’s NCAA Championship, in the finals of the SEC Tournament

Oklahoma’s challenge this time around will be more daunting than it has been the past three years. The Sooners should advance out of the Norman Regional this weekend, but the slope up the bracket gets much steeper in the subsequent rounds.

The Sooners are one of four Big 12 schools that received team bids to the 2017 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship. TCU, the Big 12 champion, is the No. 6 seed, Baylor is No. 7 and Oklahoma State is seeded 11th overall.

Oklahoma defeated TCU (4-0) and Oklahoma State (4-0) in the regular season, but lost to Baylor (4-3). TCU defeated the Sooners 4-1 in the semifinals of this year’s Big 12 Championships.

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