April 21, 2006

No. 5 seed Tulsa Golden Hurricane advanced to the 2006 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship semifinals with a tournament sweep over fourth-seeded UAB. SMU and Tulsa, both competing in their first C-USA Women's Tennis Championship, will face each other in the semifinals, scheduled for Saturday, April 22, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Garland Tennis Center.

The Golden Hurricane pulled off a tight doubles point as the tandem of Santie Delport and Kindsay Grimes battled to an 8-6 win at the No. 1 position, while Julie Westfall and Tiffany Smith quickly tallied an 8-2 win at No. 3. The third doubles match did not finish as the pair was knotted at 7-7.

"I was happy with the way the girls responded today," said TU head coach Dean Orford. "UAB is a very disciplined and gifted team and I was glad we could pull out the win. We look forward to facing SMU tomorrow."

Continuing her winning ways was Tulsa junior Santie Delport, who has recorded the most singles wins for the Tulsa women's tennis team this year, a 28-4 mark, including a 22-2 dual record. Delport defeated Julia von Samson of UAB, 6-1, 6-0. Senior Daniela Muscolino rallied the third point for the Golden Hurricane by recording a 6-2, 6-1 finish over junior Ornischa Maier-Knapp. In one of the closer matches of the day, Kindsay Grimes beat Blazer Gulsah Esen, 6-4, 7-5 and helped advance the squad to semifinals of the four-day tourney.

Match 5 - Garland Tennis Center

(5) Tulsa 4, def. (4) UAB 0

Singles

No. 1 Daniela Muscolino, TLS, def. Ornischa Maier-Knapp, UAB, 6-2, 6-1

No. 2 Santie Delport, TLS, def. Julia von Samson, UAB, 6-1, 6-0

No. 3 Annemieke Elsholz, UAB, vs. Tiffany Smith, TLS, dnf, (4-6, 6-3, 1-0)

No. 4 . Kindsay Grimes, TLS, def. Gulsah Esen, UAB, 6-4, 7-5

No. 5 Antonia Nuget, UAB, vs. Thalia Diaz-Barriga, TLS, dnf, (6-5, 4-3)

No. 6 Samrin Tanzeem, UAB, vs. Agostina Santoro, TLS, dnf, (6-1, 2-6)

Doubles

No. 2 Esen/ Maier-Knapp, UAB, def. Muscolino/ Barriga, TLS, dnf (7-7)

No. 3 Westfall/ Smith, TLS def. Nuget/ Soyalp, UAB, 8-2