May 1, 2008

IRVING, Texas - The NCAA tennis subcommittee announced the 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams that will participate in both the 2008 Men's and Women's NCAA Individual Tennis Championships, May 21-26, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. C-USA will have eight individuals in the respective fields, six on the men's side.

Tulsa's men's tennis team will be well represented during the individual championships with Arnau Brugues earning a trip to the singles championship, while the duo of Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham earned a bid to the doubles championship.

Both were at-large selections, after finishing the season as the second-highest ranking singles and doubles tandem in Conference USA.

Bruno Rosa of Rice earned a No. 9-16 seed for the singles tournament, while Christoph Muller is the fourth alternate for the field. Rosa is the top-ranked C-USA Men's Tennis singles player at No. 14 in the latest rankings. Christoph Muller and fellow German Ralph Knupfer qualifed for the doubles tournament.

Marshall juniors Kellie Schmitt and Karolina Soor are the league representatives on the women's side. At No. 55, Schmitt is the highest ranked C-USA Women's Tennis singles player and will play in the singles draw.

The 28th-ranked doubles team of Schmitt and Soor were the lone women's tennis doubles pairing automatailly selected to the NCAA doubles competition.

The 42nd-ranked duo of Natalia Bubien and Pavi Francis of SMU are the fifth alternate for the women's doubles field and will also make the trip to Tulsa.

The singles and doubles competition will be conducted following the conclusion of the team championship.

The pairings for the singles and doubles tournament will not be released until the team competition begins at the 2008 NCAA Championships.