Oct. 5, 2007

TULSA, Okla.- The University of Tulsa men's tennis team had five players in action Thursday at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championship at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the TU campus. Junior Arnau Brugues, ranked 3rd in the ITA National Preseason Rankings defeated Ohio State's Justin Kronauge (6-4, 7-6(2)) in the first round. But, he fell to Thomas Liversage of San Diego (4-6, 6-3, 6-3) in the second round.

Though, Brugues was not the highest ranked player to fall, the second ranked Ohio State's Steven Moneke lost to Cosmin Cotet of TCU (6-1, 6-3) in the first round. Also falling were fifth ranked Luke Shields of Boise State, sixth ranked Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State and ninth ranked Ryan Rowe of Illinois.

In other main draw action for TU, senior Will Gray fell to UCLA's Mohamed Abib (6-4, 3-6, 6-4) in a hard fought three set match. Later, Gray won his match against Tennessee's Chris Racz in the back draw in another three set match (2-6, 6-3, 6-4). Also in the back draw, senior Ricardo Soriano, ranked 67th, defeated 20th ranked Blake Strode of Arkansas (7-5, 6-4).

Tulsa won both of its doubles matches in the main draw. Junior Ross Cunningham and senior Andy Connelly, ranked 40th, defeated the eighth ranked pair, Tyler Hochwalt and Greg Ouellette (9-8(3)), while the duo of Soriano and Brugues beat the third ranked pair, Virginia Tech's Nicolas Delgado and Pedro Graber (8-4).

Matches begin at 9 am tomorrow. The third round of singles will be in the morning followed by the second round of doubles in the afternoon. The quarterfinals of both singles and doubles are on Friday, while the semifinals of both are on Saturday.

Tulsa Players in Action Tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 4
Main Draw Doubles
# 40 Andy Connelly / Ross Cunningham vs. Nick Cavaday / Jay Weinacker (NC State) at 1 pm.

# 51 Arnau Brugues / Ricardo Soriano vs. Jean Yves Aubone / Clint Bowles (Florida St.) at 2 pm.

RICE
Ralph Knupfer's run at the Polo Ralph Lauren ITA All-American Championships came to a close Thursday in the second round at the Michael Case Tennis Center on the Tulsa campus.

No. 81 Knupfer knocked off No. 5 seed Luke Shields of Boise State 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the opening round. Against fellow qualifier Jack Baker of South Alabama in the second round, Knupfer fought back from a 3-0 hole after losing the opening set 6-2. The southpaw went ahead 5-4 and had a set point before falling 7-5.

No. 86 Christoph Müller found his way as a lucky loser into the consolation draw of the tournament and made the most of the opportunity, rolling past No. 14 Pierre Mouillon of California. He faces off against Kentucky's Bruno Agostinelli, who is ranked No. 44, Friday at 11:30am.