Oct. 10, 2006

IRVING, Texas - Tulsa's Arnau Brugues became the first ever Conference USA tennis player to win the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championship with his 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over John Isner of Georgia on Sunday. The spectacular win was also the first national championship in the history of the Tulsa tennis program. Brugues, ranked No. 7 in the initial ITA Rankings this season, was like a buzzsaw in the main draw, winning six-straight matches without losing a set, defeating the No. 44, No. 34, No. 61, No. 48, No. 13 and No. 2 ranked players in the nation en route to the title.

In other men's action Rice and SMU had players compete in the All-American tournament as well, while players from UCF were at the Georgia Tech Invitational. On the women's side, Marshall's Kellie Schmitt had nice run at the Riviera/ITA All-American Tennis Championships, while Memphis, Rice, SMU and UTEP all had players in action at various tournaments.

MEN'S

RICE
Rice began competition at the 2006 Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Men's Tennis Championships on Monday with newcomer Tobias Scheil advancing to the second round of competition in Tulsa, Okla. Scheil scored a tough three-set victory over the host Golden Hurricane's Ricardo Soriano, ranked 83rd in the preseason poll. The Owl was triumphant with a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5 decision in the opening round of the 128 man field.

Having a tough time in singles on Monday, Ralph Knupfer and Ben Harknett were both eliminated in straight-set losses.

In addition to the second round of singles, Tuesday also features the start of doubles action. Scheil and Harknett team up to face Hawaii's tandem of Matt Seeberger and Andreas Weber.

Scheil was knocked out of singles and doubles, with his partner Harknett, on Tuesday in the qualifying draw of the 2006 Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Men's Tennis Championships. Scheil began the day with a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Ryan Heller of Michigan in the second round of singles. The Rice newcomer and his doubles partner Harknett then had an 8-2 setback against Matt Seeberger and Andreas Weber of Hawaii in afternoon competition.

SMU
Alex Skrypko began singles play on Thursday in the main draw of the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championship.

On Thursday morning, Skrypko was edged by Luis Flores of Georgia, 7-5, 7-5, in the first round of the main draw. He was then slated to take on Bojan Szumanski of Texas Tech in the first round of the consolation bracket. Skrypko easily took care of Szumanski, defeating him, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 36 Alex Skrypko fell to Christian Groh of San Diego St. today in the consolation bracket of the main draw for the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championship. The championship is being hosted by Tulsa University.

Skrypko would not go down easy, but was unable to overturn Groh as he fell in two sets, 6-4, 6-3.

This concludes the Mustang's play in the Championship as they now prepare for the Midland Racquet Club Invitational, Oct. 13-15.

TULSA
The University of Tulsa's Arnau Brugues completed a spectacular run through the main draw of the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over John Isner of Georgia to earn Tulsa's first tennis national championship.

"I can't believe it right now," said Brugues, "It's like a dream."

He is the first Tulsa player to win a national singles title and first player from the host school to win the All-American since Texas' Chad Clark in 1993. Georgia's top-seeded Isner was trying to become the just the second player to win back-to-back All-American titles, joining Al Parker who won titles for Georgia in 1989-90. 

Brugues, ranked No. 7 in the nation, picked up the match's only service break after taking Isner to deuce in the decisive game and coming out with the win to take the second set 6-4 and preserve his championship.

Isner, who was able to fight off match point twice in the final game, loses for just the second time in 42 matches dating back to last season. Brugues, last year's Conference USA Player of the Year, has now won 27 of 31 career matches. He is the first Conference USA player to win the All-American (SMU's Genius Chidzikwe won the 2000 title when the program was a member of the WAC).

Both players held serve through the first set, forcing a tiebreaker which Brugues won 7-5 after falling behind 2-0 early.

The holding serve trend continued throughout the second set until Brugues, with a 5-4 lead, battled back to force deuce in the 10th game and took the next two points for the victory.

Brugues was like a buzzsaw in the main draw, winning six-straight matches without losing a set, defeating the No. 44, No. 34, No. 61, No. 48, No. 13 and No. 2 ranked players in the nation en route to the title.

"Anytime you win a national championship it's very special," said Director of Tennis Vince Westbrook, "I think it puts a stamp on our program that we're the real deal and we're going to be someone to contend with in the future."

This event, administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), kicks off the 2006-07 collegiate tennis season and is the first of three national championships. The other national title opportunities this season are the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the season-ending NCAA Championships in May.

UCF
The UCF men's tennis team participated in its second event of the fall season this weekend, competing at the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. Several Golden Knights had strong showings playing against some of the top programs in the region.

Sophomores Jimmy Roesch (Melbourne, Fla./Eau Gallie HS) and Brock Sakey (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze HS) advanced to the flight B doubles semifinals. The pair opened the tournament with an 8-4 victory over Mississippi State's Ryan Farlow and Artem Kuznetsov.

In the second round, the Golden Knights topped a team led by Alabama's Taylor Striplin, 8-4. Roesch and Sakey were stopped in the semifinals as the duo lost 9-8 (5) to Morgan Richard and Marc Rocafort of Middle Tennessee State.

Roesch had the most success in individual play, competing in the flight B singles bracket. After losing his first round match, he recorded wins over Georgia Southern's Daniel Harden, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4 and Auburn's Aaron Williams, 6-3, 6-1. In the consolation bracket semifinals, Roesch fell to Danielk Balog of Georgia State (6-3, 6-2).

Playing in the flight A doubles bracket, junior Sinan Sudas (Adana, Turkey) and sophomore Norman Alcantara (Mexico City, Mexico) went 1-1. They breezed past Milan Krnjetin and Nick Maurillo of Auburn, 8-0, in the first round. The UCF pair then fell 8-6 to Alabama's Saketh Mynemi and Jordie Kindervater.

Nine teams that finished 2006 in the Fila Collegiate Tennis Rankings participated in the event. Included in that total were five programs - Georgia, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Middle Tennessee State and Alabama - that concluded the year in the top 40.

WOMEN'S

HOUSTON
The University of Houston tennis team opened the Cougar Fall Draw with a strong singles showing on day one Friday at Hoff Courts on the UH campus. Returnees Loli Gomez, Vicky Simpson and Sonja Nikolic all notched straight set victories. Meredith Giles, Anna Djananova and Neila Starratt earned their first victories as Cougars.

Gomez and Giles made quick work of their matches in the red flight, while Nikolic and Djananova tallied a pair of hard-fought 7-5 opening set wins in the white flight. Both went on to win in straight sets. The teammates will face each other in the quarterfinals.

The Cougars had some initial success in doubles action as three of the four pairs won its opening match. Houston lost a trio of close decisions at the end of the day.

Starratt and Gomez notched impressive victories in day on Saturday to move into the championship. Starratt compiled a pair of impressive victories, winning 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals before firing off a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals to earn a spot in the blue flight finals.

Gomez also moved to the finals, tallying a 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal victory. The Spaniard saved her most best effort for the semifinals. Down a set and 5-4, Gomez picked a critical hold of serve. She followed that with a break and another hold taking the second set, 7-5, to even the match.

In the super tiebreaker, Gomez ran out to a 6-0 lead and held on for a 10-6 win to secure a place in the red flight finals.

After receiving an opening round bye, Leila Salek took a tight first set 6-4 in her quarterfinal match in the red flight. She lost the second set 6-3 and was down two match points in the super tiebreaker. Salek fought back using an array of drop shots to gut out a 14-12 win. Salek ran out of gas in the semifinals falling 6-0, 6-1.

Rebecca Franzi and Sonja Nikolic also picked up quarterfinal wins but fell short in the semifinals.

Gomez notched a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (15-13) to win the red singles flight on the final day. The Spaniard fought off a pair of match points in the super tiebreak to secure the championship.

Starratt came up short falling 6-4, 6-2 in the blue singles flight final but Severance was also impressed with Starratt's opening act as a Cougar.

The Cougars notched a 4-3 mark in consolation matches. Djananova came away with two victories, while Franzi and Nikolic also earned a pair of strong straight set wins.

Houston returns to action at the ITA Regional Tournament on Oct. 19-24 hosted by TCU.

MARSHALL
Kellie Schmitt's success at the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Chamionship is reaching her teammates in Blacksburg, Va. Fellow sophomores Karolina Soor and Jessica Keener picked up wins and advanced to the semifinals in their respective flights in singles and also took a doubles action as the rest of the team competed at the Hokie Fall Invitational in Blacksburg, Va.

Other notable Herd victories came by Yulia Kashelkina and Thaddea Lock in Flight A doubles. Kashelkina has also reached the semifinals in the back draw of Flight A singles.

Schmitt ended her outstanding run at the Riviera/ITA All-American with a gutsy-match with No. 20 Celia Durkin of the 2006 NCAA Champion Stanford Cardinal on Saturday afternoon.

Schmitt played in 11 matches (including doubles) in a week's span coming into the match with Durkin. The Stanford junior defeated Schmitt in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.

The Hokie Fall Invitational took a spell of inclement weather but that did not keep the doubles teams from taking to the courts indoors.

The Thundering Herd's Soor and Keener took fourth place while Lock and Kashelkina finished sixth in the top flight double competition.

Keener won the Virginia Tech Hokie Fall Invitational's Flight B singles on Sunday. In her first match of the day Keener faced Virginia Tech's Jessica Brouwer in the semifinal round. Keener took the victory 6-2, 6-3.

Keener then faced another Hokie player, Natalie Kretzer, in Flight B's finals. Keener could not be stopped as she took the match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

The Thundering Herd's only other match of the day was in Flight A singles. Soor was defeated in the semifinal round by Jessica Long of Virginia Tech, 6-4, 6-4.

All other consolation matches were canceled because of inclement weather.

MEMPHIS
The University of Memphis women's tennis team opened up its first rounds of play with just two doubles matches Thursday. The tandem of Ekin Zafir and Dara Toulch fell to Colorado State's duo of Stople and Satherlie, 8-4, while teammates Flavia Russo and Amanda Brown were defeated by the Colorado duo of Ebbert and Cruite, 8-5.

Memphis wrapped up its second day of doubles play at the United States Air Force Academy, Friday. The duo of Marjorie Ondeck and Alex Tjioe played a pair of doubles matches, falling to the team of Torres and Almagno from Colorado, 8-4, before dropping a second 8-4 match to Air Force's tandem of Kiser and Knight in Flight 2 doubles.

The team of Zafir and Toulch, playing their second match of the tournament, but their first of the day, squared off against Northern Colorado's tandem of Nuccio and Groll, falling 8-6. In Flight 4 doubles, Russo and Brown defeated the team of LaForest and Xavier from Northern Colorado, 8-4.

Russo advanced to a Saturday third place match when she opened her singles slate with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 come-from-behind win over Air Force's Jennifer Walters, Friday. Russo then fell to Wyoming's Jamie Nelson, 6-2, 6-3.

Brown lost her first match after splitting the first two sets, 6-1, 3-6, and then fell 10-7 in the super tiebreak to advance to a consolation match against Air Force's India Overbey. Brown recovered from her first set loss to sweep Overbey in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0.

Toulch fell to Colorado's Kirsten Stople, 6-2, 6-0 in her first singles match of the day, but bounced back with a 7-5, 4-6, 12-10 thriller to earn a spot in a fifth-place match against Cornell's Catherine Duboc.

Three other Lady Tigers advanced to play seventh place matches after falling in a pair of singles matches on Saturday. Ondeck was defeated 6-2, 6-4 by Colorado's Franziska Jendrian, then fell to Cornell's Tamara John, 6-2, 3-6, 10-2.

In Flight 4 singles, sophomore Zafir fell to Wyoming's Andrea House, 6-3, 6-2, then fell to Northern Arizona's Stacey Pinchbeck, 6-1, 6-0 to fall to the seventh place match.

In Flight 6 singles, senior Tjioe fell 6-2, 6-1 to Colorado's Martina Sedivec, then battled, but came up short, 6-1, 7-5, against Northern Arizona's Patrice Bienold.

Brown won her opening set 6-3, then dropped a tiebreaker, 7-6, but stormed back with an 11-9 victory in the super tie-break in the third set in Flight 9 singles at the Air Force Invitational, Saturday, on the final day of the tournament.

Brown captured the lone win in singles for the Lady Tigers on Sunday, while Zafir received a default in her seventh place match.

In other singles play, Ondeck fell just short of a first round win, 7-6, then lost the second set 6-0 to Northern Colorado's Meredith Krystofik. Toulch had advanced to another fifth place match, but came up short against Cornell's Catherine Duboc, 6-4, 6-1. Tjioe lost in her seventh place match, 6-0, 6-1, to Wyoming's Michelle Brown, while Russo fell, 6-4, 6-1, to Colorado's Alli Quinn in her third place match in Flight 8 singles.

In doubles play, Memphis went 2-1 on Sunday. The team of Ondeck and Tjioe defeated the team of Forter and Vial from Northern Arizona, 8-4, while the duo of Zafir and Toulch defeated Wilson and Rudice, 8-0. Russo and Brown suffered an 8-2 loss to the tandem of Brown and Senko in the final doubles match of the tournament.

RICE
The Rice Tennis Classic at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium got off to a great start on Friday with impressive play from Rice in doubles. Highlighting the host Owls daily action, Julie Chao and Tiffany Lee earned a solid 8-1 victory in doubles play over the UT-San Antonio duo of Holly Phillips and Eva Silvester. Dominique Karas and Kimberly Patenaude together defeated the Prairie View A&M team of Camille Whittingham and Marika Dawkins. This is Karas's first match after recovering from a knee injury.

In singles, Rice's Rebecca Linn defeated UTSA's Tanya Hasking 6-2, 6-0 in the first round and Shavani Dave 6-3, 6-2 in the second round to move on to the semifinal round of the gray flight. She will face Georgia Tech's Whitney McCray tomorrow at 12 pm.

The second day of the Rice Tennis Classic was marked by solid play in both singles and doubles by Rice. Linn of Rice defeated Whitney McCray of Georgia Tech 6-4, 7-5 in gray flight singles during the semi-finals round. Also in singles, Veronica Sagastegui earned a solid Rice victory over Camille Whittingham of Prarie View A&M, 6-3, 6-3. The doubles team of Karas and Petenaued added to Rice wins with a 8-0 victory over the Prairie View A&M team of Charli Cooksey and Margaret Banks.

The Rice Tennis Classic wrapped up Sunday with Rice winning the championship in the gray flight doubles bracket and Georgia Tech taking championships in blue flight singles, gray flight singles, and blue flight doubles.

The Owls doubles team of Karas and Patenaude soundly won against their teammates Jennifer Pan and Veronica Sagastegui 8-0 for a perfect tournament record and the gray flight championship.

Rice freshmen Rebecca Linn, Julie Chao, Pan, and Sagastegui played hard and well this weekend racking up a singles record total of 11-5 over the three day tournament.

For Georgia Tech, one of the top 10 teams in the nation last year, Amanda Craddock took the singles championship in the blue flight by default, Christy Striplin defeated Lin 6-4, 6-2 for the gray flight title, and the doubles team of Whitney McCray and Amanda Craddock went home with the blue flight doubles championship with an 8-4 win over the Illinois team of Leigh Finnegan and Megan Fudge. Georgiana Marta of SMU defeated Sagastegui 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 for the championship in the white singles round-robin.

The Owls return to the courts next weekend at the Midland Invitational.

SMU
The SMU women's tennis team took to the road this past weekend to Houston, Texas, to participate in the Rice Tennis Classic at the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium. Three Mustangs went and participated in varies single and doubles flights.

Natalia Bubien was in the Blue Singles. In the round of 16, she defeated Melanie Brown of PVAMU, 3-0, def. to advance to face Tiffany Lee of Rice in the quarterfinals. After falling in the first set, Bubien battled back to win, 3-6, 6-4, def. In the semifinals, she took on Amanda McDowell of Georgia Tech. Bubien put up a tough fight, but it was not enough to get past McDowell as she fell, 6-3, 6-4.

Jennifer Chay competed in the Gray Singles where she faced Shivani Dave of Indiana in the round of 16. The two battled through the first set as Dave edged Chay, 7-6 (1), 6-2. In the Consolation bracket, Chay faced Tanya Hasking of UTSA in the quarterfinals and took the, 6-4, 6-4, win. She took care of Melissa Guerrier from PVAMU in the semifinal rounds, 6-2, 6-2. In the consolation finals, Chay was slated to take on Kristina Minor of Indiana. Chay fought for the, 7-5, 7-5, win, taking the consolation bracket win.

Georgiana Marta played four rounds in the White Singles. She defeated Holly Phillips of UTSA, 6-3, 6-0, in the first round and then stomped Bianca Simpson of PVAMU, 6-2, 6-2. She took a hard, fought win from Jennifer Pan in round three, 6-3, 7-6 (3). In the fourth round, Marta fell to Sagastegui of Rice in the first set, but then climbed back for the 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, win.

In doubles action, Chay and Marta paired for a 2-2 record over the weekend. The duo first smashed Brown and Guerrier of PVAMU, 8-0, and then fell to McCray and Craddock of Georgia Tech, 8-0. The pair could not get past Mihaulova and Chmelarova of Baylor as they fell, 8-2, but the tandem went on to defeat Dao and Braid of Rice, 8-2.

The Mustangs will hit the courts again Oct. 19-23 at the ITA Southwest Regional in Ft. Worth, Texas.

UTEP
The play of the Miners' doubles pairs highlighted the first day of action for the UTEP tennis team at the Houston Fall Invite Friday afternoon.

During the first round, the Miners' top pair of Katherine Palider and Weronika Bloczynska showed off their ability. In a match against Lee's Araya and Robinson, the Orange and Blue duo demolished the opposition by an 8-1 count.

They were knocked out of contention for the flight title, however, in the second round. The pair fell at the hands of Louisiana-Lafayette's Day and Meijer in tightly-contested match, 8-9 (5-7).

Although the setback pushed them into the back draw, their spirits remained high. Facing off against Corpus Christi's Abeaboeru and Dyckman, they registered their second 8-1 drubbing of the day to stay alive in the consolations.

Vicky Michaud and Megan Pritchard also joined forces. After receiving a bye in the first round, the talented team advanced to the third round following an exciting triumph against Houston's Stara and Guiles. In a match that was reminiscent of a see-saw, UTEP's pair emerged victorious by virtue of a 9-7 score.

Their run in the doubles was halted in the quarterfinals. They dropped the match, 8-3, to Southeastern Louisiana's Knavs and Kovac.

Rookies Nilsa Ramirez and Harmonie Chatagner also paired up to represent the ladies from the Sun City. Despite playing well, they fell by a score of 8-3. Relegated to the back draw, the duo took on Corpus Christi's Iraiate and Valarezo and the tandem came up just short, 9-7.

There were three flights of singles action, as well. In Flight A, Bloczynska received a bye as result of her recent play.

Palider also competed in Flight A. She squared off against Houston's Giles, falling 6-1, 6-2.

In Flight B, Chatagner continued her solid play of late. She dispatched Corpus Christi's Ciric in straight-set fashion, 6-4, 6-4.Michaud battled Simpson of Houston. The sophomore played well, although she was eventually dealt a 6-3, 6-4 setback.

Pritchard also challenged a member of the Cougars. After forcing the issue in the first set (5-7 loss), it was a bit more taxing for the London, Ontario, native. She dropped the second set, 6-2.

In Flight C action, Ramirez secured her second collegiate triumph. The El Paso product was matched up against Lee's Leeder. With each player having claimed four games in the first set, Leeder was forced to retire due to an injury.

Ramirez stormed into the semifinals of Flight C, to highlight the efforts of the UTEP tennis team during the second day of the Houston Invite. Ramirez's play provided a boost for the Orange and Blue. The freshman squared up against Brahim of Corpus Christi. The El Paso native made quick work of her, securing a spot in the semifinals following a 6-1, 6-4 triumph. Her run came to a close in the semis. Matched up against the Cougars' Starratt, Ramirez fell, 6-2, 6-2.

In Flight A action, Bloczynska had her quest for the title halted by Southeastern Louisiana's Kovac. The sophomore fell 6-3in the first set. She rallied in the second set, but came up just short, dropping it 7-6 (5) to clinch the match for Kovac. Bloczynska's loss dropped her to the back draw where she cruised past Velkoliska of Southeastern Louisiana, by a score of 6-3, 6-4.

In Flight B, Chatagner was a dealt a 6-2, 6-1 setback by the hands of Houston's Franzi. The freshman then switched her focus to the consolation draw, where she dropped a heartbreaker against Lyles of Louisiana-Lafayette, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 10-8.

A trio of Miners also competed in back-draw action, and two emerged victorious. Palider broke out of a taxing stretch with a dominating win against Ciric of Corpus Christi. She posted a convincing 6-1, 6-2 triumph.

Michaud also tasted victory. Facing off versus Phillips from Southeastern Louisiana, the Laval, Quebec, product found herself down early, after falling 6-2 in the first set. She rallied to claim the second set, 6-2. With the match down to the super tiebreaker, Michaud clinched things by virtue of a 10-7 count.

Pritchard challenged Araya from Lee. After forcing the issue in the first set, a 5-7 setback, she ran into trouble during the second set, falling, 1-6.

Only three Miners were in action during the final day of the Houston Invite, but they certainly made the most of the opportunity. Michaud, Palider and Pritchard all picked up victories in back-draw action to cap off UTEP's second invitational of the season in fine fashion.

Michaud was matched up against Lee's Araya and dispatched her in straight sets, by equal scores of 6-2, 6-2.

Pritchard was matched against Taylor from Sam Houston State. The sophomore followed the lead of Michaud by posting a straight set triumph, 6-2, 6-3.

Palider, the lone senior on the squad, ensured it would be a perfect day for the Orange and Blue by knocking off Mills of Sam Houston State. She also won in straight sets with a final score of 6-4, 6-3.

UTEP returns to action from Oct. 20-24 when in competes in the prestigious ITA Southwest Regional in Fort Worth, Texas.