Six C-USA Schools Garner ITA National Preseason Rankings
Jan. 9, 2008
IRVING, Texas - Six Conference USA institutions received Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national preseason rankings as announced by the governing body of collegiate tennis. Tulsa's men's squad claimed the highest overall team ranking, coming in at No. 23, closely followed by Rice at No. 32. For the women, Tulsa took top honors with an initial ranking of No. 46. SMU is the third men's selections at No. 47, while the SMU women came in at No. 58. Marshall finds itself ranked No. 65 to round out the women's side. The ITA also released its initial individual singles and doubles rankings and 10 different C-USA student-athletes were named on those lists. Rice's Christoph Müller leads all C-USA players with his No. 34 singles ranking. Müller won six of his nine singles matches during the month of October to earn C-USA Player of the Month honors. His fall included a run to the quarterfinals at the Wilson/ITA South Central Regional Championships. Along the way, Müller knocked off top seed and No. 22 ranked Bojan Szumanski of Texas Tech. Müller was ranked the No. 5 singles player in the South Central region by the ITA. Tulsa's Ricardo Soriano was individually ranked at No. 44, while Rice's Ralph Knupfer debuted at No. 45. Soriano was No. 9 in the Central region rankings and Knupfer took the No. 7 singles ranking in the South Central region. David Kuczer of SMU was the final men's singles player to appear with a national ranking, appearing at No. 80. Kuczer is No. 13 in the South Central region. In women's singles, Marshall's Kellie Schmitt was ranked 19th and is joined by Rice's Julie Chao at No. 99. In doubles, Schmitt and her partner Carolina Soor are ranked 15th. The duo earned the ranking after a dominating fall season with a win over the No. 1 team from William and Mary. That win sent the Marshall pair to the National Indoor Championship in Columbus, Ohio. At the championships, Schmitt and Soor defeated the No. 10 pairing from Tennessee, but fell to the future doubles champions, Notre Dame.
Both men's doubles teams that grabbed preseason rankings represent Tulsa. The duo of Ross Cunningham and Andy Connelly lead the way ranked at No. 5, followed by Arnau Brugues and Soriano in 16th. Connelly and Cunningham share the top doubles ranking in the Central region with Oklahoma's top duo, while Brugues and Soriano are ranked No. 7 in the same region. C-USA tennis action begins this weekend and the 2008 season will conclude with the 13th annual C-USA men's and women's tennis championships. The women's event will be held in Houston, Texas at the John E. Hoff Tennis Courts at the University of Houston April 17-20, while the men's championship will take place from April 18-20 in Dallas, Texas, at the newly constructed SMU Tennis Courts on the campus of SMU. WOMEN Singles Doubles |
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