April 19, 2008

IRVING, Texas - No. 9 Tulsa is set to appear in its third-straight Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship title match as the Golden Hurricane swept fifth seed UCF (12-9), 4-0, Saturday at the new Turpin Tennis Stadium located on SMU's campus in Dallas.

TULSA 4, UCF 0 BOX SCORE

Tulsa (20-4) picked up the first point of the match by winning at the No. 2 and 3 double positions. Winning 8-2 at No. 2 doubles was TU's 38th-ranked team of Arnau Brugues and Ricardo Soriano, followed by an 9-8 (5) victory for freshman Victor Kolik and senior Alberto Sottocorno. The 25th-ranked tandem of senior Andy Connelly and junior Ross Cunningham was pulled off the courts with the scored tied at 6-all against UCF sophomore Johan Beigart and senior Niko Overkemping.

Freshman Victor Kolik came off the courts first for the Golden Hurricane as he cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over UCF senior Niko Overkemping. No. 22 and TU's top singles player, Arnau Brugues, edged Sinan Sudas of UCF, 6-1, 6-4, for the third point, while No. 111 Ricardo Soriano, a senior, clinched the match for the Hurricane with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Brock Sakey.

The win gives TU its 20th of the season.

Tulsa will face the winner of the Rice and SMU match Sunday at Noon for the league's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Championships.

Tennis fans can watch live scoring at www.SMUMustangs.com or www.ConferenceUSA.com. Single day ticket prices are just $5 (adults) and $3 (youth), while an all-tournament pass is only $10 (adults) and $6 (youth). Groups of 10-or-more can purchase tickets for just $3 (single day) and $6 (tournament pass).

Match 5: No. 1 seed Tulsa 4, No. 5 seed UCF 0
DOUBLES
D1 #25 Connelly/Ross Cunningham, Tulsa vs. Beigart/Overkemping, UCF, 6-6 DNF
D2 #38 Brugues/Soriano, Tulsa def. Sakey/Romano, UCF, 8-2
D3 Victor Kolik/Sottocorno, Tulsa def. Sudas/Schwartz, UCF, 9-8 (5)

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1 DNF
SINGLES
S1 #22 Arnau Brugues, Tulsa def. Sinan Sudas, UCF, 6-1, 6-4
S2 Victor Kolik, Tulsa def. Niko Overkemping, UCF, 6-1, 6-2
S3 Will Gray, Tulsa vs. Johan Beigart, UCF, 7-5, 2-4 DNF
S4 #111 Ricardo Soriano, Tulsa def. Brock Sakey, UCF, 6-2, 6-3
S5 Alberto Sottocorno, Tulsa vs. Terek Ben Soltane, UCF, 6-4, 3-5 DNF
S6 Andy Connelly, Tulsa vs. Blaze Schwartz, UCF, 6-4, 2-3 DNF

Order of finish: 2, 1, 4

2008 C-USA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
Turpin Tennis Stadium / Dallas, Texas / April 18-20
APRIL
Friday, 18
Match 1: No. 5 UCF def. No. 4 UAB, 4-2
Match 2: No. 1 Tulsa def. No. 8 Southern Miss, 4-1
Match 3: No. 3 SMU def. No. 6 Memphis, 4-0
Match 4: No. 2 Rice def. No. 7 East Carolina, 5-0

Saturday, 19
Match 5: No. 5 UCF vs. No. 1 Tulsa, 4-0
Match 6: No. 3 SMU vs. No. 2 Rice / 2 p.m.

Sunday, 20
Match 7: No. 1 Tulsa vs. winner Match 6 / 12 p.m.

All championship times are Central and will be played at the new Turpin Tennis Stadium.