COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Arkansas senior Oggie Kolev opens NCAA Tournament play in the individual tennis singles championships on Wednesday with a 2 p.m. match against junior Matt Klinger of Arizona State.
Kolev, ranked No. 35 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, is 26-13 this year, helping Arkansas earn a No. 24 national ranking, a 15-10 team record and a trip to an NCAA Tournament regional final for the second straight year.
Klinger is 18-11 and ranked No. 39. Two of his losses are to then-No. 2 K.J. Hippensteel of Stanford and then-No. 3 Harsh Mankad of Minnesota.
Kolev, from Sydney, Australia, hasn't played since May 12 when the Razorbacks were eliminated from the NCAAs by No. 11 Southern Cal, 4-0. USC has since advanced to tonight's championship match against defending national champion Georgia.
Kolev, who was 26-12 a year ago, won his last completed match on May 11 against No. 90 Pawel Sebastyanski of Tulsa, 6-0, 6-2, in Arkansas' 4-3 win over the Golden Hurricane in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The winner advances to Thursday's second round and meets the winner between Mankad and Tulane's Michael Kogan.
