April 17, 2008

2008 C-USA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET

2008 C-USA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

IRVING, Texas - For the second consecutive year, the University of Tulsa will serve as the top seed in the upcoming Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship at the new Turpin Tennis Stadium located on SMU's campus in Dallas. Championship action gets underway on Friday, April 18, with the first of four matches starting at 8 a.m. CT. Semifinals take place on Saturday with 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. match times, followed by the championship match on Sunday at Noon. The C-USA champion receives the league's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Championships.

Turpin Tennis Stadium is just south of the Crum Basketball Center, which is located at the site of where the Haggar Tennis Stadium once stood.

Two-time C-USA defending champion, Tulsa (18-4), ranked No. 9 in the latest ITA national rankings, will face the No. 8 seed Southern Miss (8-13) at 11 a.m. in the quarterfinals on Friday. They are on the same side of the bracket with No. 4 seed UAB (11-2) and No. 5 seed UCF (11-8) who will play each other at 8 a.m. on April 18.

The tournament's host, SMU (18-7), is the No. 3 seed and will take on No. 6 seed Memphis (8-12) at 2 p.m. for the chance to play the winner of the No. 2 seed and 22nd-ranked Rice (15-7) and No. 7 seed East Carolina (13-11) match which will be at 5 p.m.

This year's championship features seven nationally ranked singles players along with three ranked doubles teams, including a pair of Hurricane. Rice has two Top 50 singles players in No. 15 Bruno Rosa and No. 50 Christoph Müller. Rosa is 16-4 on the season, while Müller is 14-6. Tulsa senior Arnau Bruges is ranked 22nd and is the 2006 and 2007 C-USA Player of the Year.

In doubles, Tulsa sports two pairs among the Top 40 with Ross Cunningham and Andy Connelly checking in at No. 25 and Ricardo Soriano and Brugues at No. 38 this week, while Rice's Ralph Knupfer and Müller owns the highest doubles ranking in the league at No. 24.

Tennis fans can watch live results 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).

Latest ITA Singles Rankings (April 15):
No. 15 Bruno Rosa, Rice
No. 22 Arnau Brugues, Tulsa
No. 50 Christoph Müller, Rice
No. 58 Victor Kolik, Tulsa
No. 91 Robin Fahgen, SMU
No. 111 Ricardo Soriano, Tulsa
No. 124 David Kuczer, SMU

Latest ITA Doubles Rankings (April 13):
No. 24 Ralph Knupfer / Christoph Müller, Rice
No. 25 Ross Cunningham / Andy Connelly, Tulsa
No. 38 Ricardo Soriano / Arnau Brugues, Tulsa

Latest ITA Team Rankings (April 13):
No. 9 Tulsa
No. 22 Rice
No. 47 SMU
No. 70 UAB

2008 C-USA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
Turpin Tennis Stadium  Dallas, Texas  April 18-20
Host: SMU

APRIL
Friday, 18
Match 1: No. 5 UCF vs. No. 4 UAB / 8 a.m.
Match 2: No. 8 Southern Miss vs. No. 1 Tulsa / 11 a.m.
Match 3: No. 6 Memphis vs. No. 3 SMU / 2 p.m.
Match 4: No. 7 East Carolina vs. No. 2 Rice / 5 p.m.

Saturday, 19
Match 5: winner Match 1 and 2 / 11 a.m.
Match 6: winner Match 3 and 4 / 2 p.m.

Sunday, 20
Match 7: winner Match 5 and 6 / 12 p.m.

All championship times are Central and will be played at the new Turpin Tennis Stadium on SMU's campus.