ATHENS, Ga. -- Oklahoma is doing something magical this season.
The second-seeded Sooners advanced to their first NCAA championship appearance with a 4-2 win against UCLA on Monday night at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
“It was a really good, hard-fought match,” OU head coach John Roddick said. “I’m proud of our guys.”
Oklahoma (27-4, 4-1 Big 12) knew what a loss to UCLA (24-3, 6-1 Pac-12) would feel like as the Bruins topped the Sooners 4-2 in the ITA Indoor National Championships back in February.
| DI MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP |
|---|
| Singles, doubles finals recap |
| Singles: UCLA's Giron wins singles title |
| All Cal match-up for singles title, doubles final set |
| Singles: FIrst semifinalist for Texas in 21 years |
| Singles: USF's Cid continues run through Day 2 |
| Singles: Athens becomes upset city on first day |
| Championship recap Gallery |
| Final: USC wins program's 21st, school's 100th title |
| Semis: Oklahoma extends run to first title match |
| Semis: Southern Cal wins clash with Virginia |
| Quarters: UCLA ousts Ohio St. for third time in four years |
| Quarters: Oklahoma reaches program's first semifinal |
| Quarters: Southern Cal. bounces back to beat Texas |
| Quarters: Virginia advances to semifinals with 4-0 win |
| Round of 16: Ohio St. survives Fla. | UCLA gets by Tenn. |
| Round of 16: Okla. heads to quarters | UNC outlasts UGa. |
| Round of 16: Baylor sweeps Illini | Cavs beat Irish again |
| Round of 16: USC halts Columbia | Texas gets by Cal |
| Brackets: Interactive Printable |
| Individual Draws: Singles | Doubles |
 Live Scoring |
Sooner Magic was in the air though as both men won their tiebreakers just seconds apart to clinch the victory and the chance to face Southern California in the championship on Tuesday night.
“I believed in myself,” Ghilea said. “I’m so happy. I did it for the team and it was a great match. I’m so happy we won as a team.”
“Once I lost the first set, coach Roddick came to the court and I asked if that guy was really that much better than me and he said no,” Alcorta said. “I knew I had to stay in the match. I’m proud of my effort.”
For the majority of the doubles match, both teams held their serves with no team establishing a clear advantage. On court No. 2, UCLA got a break at 5-all and won the next three games to top the duo of Andrew Harris and Guillermo Alcorta 8-5
Alex Ghilea and Nick Papac took their match to a tiebreak after UCLA tied it at seven. After the tiebreak went to 5-all, the duo took the next two points to lock in their first doubles win since the regional.
Less than 10 seconds later, the tandem of Axel Alvarez and Dane Webb locked up the doubles point for Oklahoma with an 8-6 win at the No. 1 spot. The Sooners are now 20-1 when winning the doubles point this season.
UCLA struck first in singles as Austin Siegel fell 6-2, 6-3 to Adrien Puget. Alvarez put the Sooners back on top with a straight-set win. He topped Marcos Giron, currently ranked second in the nation, 6-4, 6-2.
The match was tied at 2-all as Dane Webb fell 6-4, 6-4 to Mackenzie McDonald. That would be the last point of the night that the Bruins would earn as the Sooners took wins at No. 1 and No. 6.
This isn’t Roddick or associate head coach Bo Hodge’s first trip to the championship match. In 1998, Roddick was a part of the Georgia squad that was the runner-up to Stanford while Hodge was a member of Georgia’s 2001 cational championship team.
Oklahoma will face Southern California in the finals at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. The Trojans won four consecutive titles from 2009-12 and have eight total national titles. The Sooners will look to earn the first title for the program.
