May 21, 2008

TULSA
University of Tulsa junior Arnau Brugues captured a first round victory as singles competition began at the NCAA Men's and Women's Tennis Championship on Wednesday morning at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the TU campus.

Brugues, ranked 18th nationally, made quick work of his opponent with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over the nation's 26th-ranked Michael Venus of LSU. Brugues improved his overall season record to 21-9, including his 10th victory against a top-100 ranked opponent.

Venus ended the season with a 14-9 singles record.

Brugues advances to the round of 32 for the third consecutive year. He will play the nation's fifth-ranked singles player, Miami's Daniel Vallverdu, on Thursday. Vallverdu won his first match in three sets with a 5-7, 6-3 and 6-1 victory over Texas A&M's Conor Pollock.

Match time for Brugues' Thursday match will be announced later today, as will the time of the match for Tulsa's doubles team of Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham.

RICE
Tournament run grinding out a 6-4, 6-4 opening round victory over No. 47 ranked Ed Corrie of Texas Wednesday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the University of Tulsa campus.

Rosa advances to face No. 22 ranked Erling Tveit of Ole Miss in the Round of 32, who earned a 6-4, 6-3 win against Texas Tech?s Bojan Szumanski.

Rosa won the first set 6-4 before turning the tables on Corrie during the seventh game of the second set. Down 15-30 with the score even at 3-3, Rosa strung together three straight points to earn a break on Corrie's serve. The Brazilian never let Corrie back into the match and fired off eight straight points on his serve to clinch the match.

Christoph Müller dropped a hard-fought 7-6 (2), 6-4 decision to TCU's Cosmin Cotet in his opening round match. Müller will look to regroup with doubles partner Ralph Knupfer as Rice?s No. 1 pair takes on Florida State?s Jean-Yves Aubone and Clint Bowles Thursday in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Doubles Tournament. The duo notched hard-fought 8-5 victory against the Seminole pair during the regular season.

RiceOwls.com will have live scoring along with live video streaming available for both the singles and doubles championships.