May 11, 2007

Box Score

Baton Rouge, La. - The University of Tulsa's men's tennis team (19-7) were bitten by the upset bug on Friday afternoon, dropping a marathon slugfest to No. 45 Vanderbilt, 4-2, in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship.

The No. 18 ranked Hurricane fell behind early, with Vanderbilt squeezing out the doubles point for the early 1-0 lead. Andy Connelly and Lucques Maasdorp notched TU's only doubles win, taking an 8-5 decision at the number two position.

Tulsa came out firing in singles and knotted the score at 1-1 when Diego Camacho took a 6-1, 7-6 (4) decision from Jordan Magarik.

Vandy regained the lead when Ross Cunningham fell at the number five position to Andy Mack, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, but TU again tied things up when Federico Soriano picked up a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win over Vijay Paul.

The Commodores responded with a win on court two with No. 117 Nik Cromydas grinding out a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 103 Ricardo Soriano to put the Hurricane down 3-2.

Vanderbilt got the match clincher when Evan Dufaux held off Tulsa's Will Gray, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5), for the 4-2 win.

The loss brings the TU season to a close as a team, but No. 7 Arnau Brugues and the No. 41 duo of Camacho and Cunningham will be in action in Athens, Ga., at the NCAA Individual and Doubles Championships on May 23-28.