The Road Ahead: Cowboy Tennis focusing on final preparations before NCAA Tournament
Apr. 22—Oklahoma State's Big 12 semifinal matchup with No. 5 Texas ultimately doomed a potential conference title appearance at its home facility, but the tough test brought a key idea to the table:
Progress — equally already made and still needed before the Cowboys attempt to find their way back to the Greenwood Tennis Center for the NCAA Championships in mid May.
Perhaps the biggest area of already-seen progress comes with OSU's recent dominance in Doubles matchups. Dating back to the spring Big 12 opener on March 21, the Cowboys have won eight of nine Doubles points. That includes points over Baylor, UCF twice and Texas twice. The team's lone point in the Big 12 semis came from a dramatic Doubles victory in set-breaking fashion.
In that category, Oklahoma State is led by the dynamic tandem of Tyler Zink and Isaac Becroft. In the ITA Tennis Doubles rankings, the pair is slotted at No. 15 in the country.
"I love doubles," Becroft said. "I love playing with Zink. We just always have great vibes. Honestly, sometimes I forget, we're playing in a duel match in the Big 12 Semifinals because I just love being out there with him. You're just smiling."
Initially this season, Zink and Becroft were in different pairings. Zink with Alex Garcia and Becroft with Alessio Basile. Head coach Dustin Taylor made a change and it has clicked.
"(Zink and Becroft) are getting behind each other, and doubles really comes down to just energy," Taylor said. "... Doubles is in great shape ... We've got to continue to build on it."
The building step is most crucial during OSU's two-week down period leading up to the NCAA Tournament. Several conferences, including the Big 10 and PAC-12, will play their tournaments next weekend. Taylor sees that as an advantage for his Cowboys.
"That's the nice thing about the Big 12 tournament is that there's some conference tournaments that go on next weekend," Taylor said. "We go a weekend early, and that allows us two weeks to prepare for the big push at the end."
Saturday's matchup with Texas was OSU's third time facing the Longhorns this season. Despite losing all three, the semifinal matchup was the most competitive of the three. Though the Cowboys were unable to win a Singles match, individually, Taylor could see improvement.
"To push them the way that we pushed them, that's a good sign because again, this team was built and I'm wired to train these guys to peak in May," Taylor said. "Today was a sign that that's gonna happen if we stay the course."
"Lots of great takeaways," Taylor said. "Probably the biggest one is that to beat a team like that we've just gotta be a touch fitter."
Taylor cites an emphasis on physical improvements to reach the next level. The Cowboys ran out of gas against the top-seeded Longhorns. He doesn't want that to happen again. The mindset from now through the end of the season is set:
"It's going to be to outwork the rest of the country," Taylor said. "Simple as that, we showed that we have the level. Now we've got to show ourselves and show everyone else that we have the legs, heart and mind to go toe-to-toe with three or four teams back to back."
Becroft, now a senior, has been ingrained with that mindset dating back to the start of his playing days. It's how he worked his way from New Zealand to a power five roster and a top-100 individual ranking.
"I get a lot of confidence from working hard," Becroft said. "So just head down, get in the gym a lot. Spend a lot of hours on the court and just know that when we play our first round of NCAA's, I can look across the net and know that I wanted it more and outworked the other guy."
The NCAA Men's Tennis Selection Show will stream on NCAA.com at 5 p.m. Monday.
The Cowboys will await the results of this weekend's conference tournaments before receiving their regional destination.
