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Oklahoma Sooner sports: Reflecting on a championship year in multiple disciplines

By Chip Rouse

Oct 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans hold up a number one prior to the game against the Texas Longhorns during Red River rivalry at Cotton Bowl Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans hold up a number one prior to the game against the Texas Longhorns during Red River rivalry at Cotton Bowl Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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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 /

Sooner doubles pair wins NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship

The Oklahoma men’s tennis team had made it all the way to the final championship match in the NCAA Tennis Championships in  each of the last three seasons, only to come up empty-handed, finishing as the runner-up on each occasion (to USC in 2014 and Virginia in both 2015 and 2016).

The OU men advanced to the round of 16 in this year’s NCAA Tennis Championship before being upended by No. 3-seeded Ohio State in a match that went all the way down to the final deciding point. The Buckeyes ultimately prevailed 4-3.

The Sooners were out of the NCAA team competition, but they weren’t done yet.

Unlike in the previous three years, OU did not come home empty-handed this time.

The Sooner doubles pair of senior Andrew Harris and junior Spencer Papa took down three higher-ranked doubles teams (No. 6 Arkansas, No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 Wake Forest) in the round of 16, quarterfinals and national semifinals, respectively, to earn a spot in the national championship match against top-seed Georgia.

Oklahoma fell behind early to Georgia in the finals match. The Bulldogs, playing on their home court at the Dan Magill Tennis Center in Athens, The Sooners’ doubles pair were down a set and were behind 2-0 in the second set before they dug in and began an improbable comeback against the nation’s top-ranked doubles team.

The team of Harris and Papa rallied against the top-ranked Georgia doubles tandem and road it all the way to a 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (6) tiebreaker victory and the first individual national championship in tennis in program history.

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