May 23, 2008

TULSA, Okla. - Tulsa's Arnau Brugues in singles and the doubles team of Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham advanced to the round of 16 in action on Thursday afternoon at the NCAA Men's and Women's Tennis Championship.

Brugues will play at 11:00 am, while the pair of Connelly and Cunningham play at 2:00 pm on Friday.

Brugues has moved into the round of 16 for the third consecutive season, as he claimed his second straight set victory in the singles bracket at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Connelly and Cunningham won their first-ever appearance together in NCAA doubles competition. Cunningham teamed with Diego Camacho last year at the NCAA Doubles Championship, but lost in the first round.

Brugues, ranked 18th nationally, upset the tournament's No. 5 seed Daniel Vallverdu of Miami (Fla.) with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. He improved his overall season record to 22-9, including his 11th victory against a top-100 ranked opponent.

Tulsa's doubles tandem dropped the first set to North Carolina State's Nick Cavaday and Jay Weinacker, but came back and won the second set 7-6 (5), not before some tense moments though. The Tulsa duo led 5-2, but NC State's pair came back to tie it 5-5. After winning the tie-breaker 7-5, Connelly and Cunningham went on to win the final set 6-3.

The nation's 27th-ranked doubles team improved its overall season record to 21-10.

Brugues will play Ohio State's Steven Moneke, who captured a straight set 6-4, 6-3 win over Mississippi State's Ivan Bjelica, on Friday at 11 am. Moneke, ranked 32nd nationally, comes into the match with a 37-6 overall record.

Vallverdu ended the season with a 27-10 singles record, while NC State's duo ended their campaign with a 10-8 record.

Cunningham and Connelly will play Maryland's Boris Fetbroyt/Andy Orban, the 5-8 seed at 2 pm on Friday.

By advancing to the round of 16, Brugues earns All-America status for the third consecutive year. A win on Friday would give Connelly and Cunningham doubles All-America honors, as the doubles teams must advance to the quarterfinals to earn All-America recognition.

RICE
No. 14 ranked Bruno Rosa erased a trio of match points before falling in a hard-fought 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 decision against No. 22 ranked Erling Tveit of Ole Miss in the NCAA Singles Championships Round of 32 Thursday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the University of Tulsa campus.

Tveit moves onto the Round of 16 and a match-up with top-seeded Somdev Devvarman of Virginia, a straight-set winner against Boise State?s Clancy Shields.

Rosa finishes with a 25-7 singles mark and earned All-America status as a sophomore after being a Top 16 national seed at the NCAA Singles Championships.

After fending off three match points on his serve, Rosa had an opportunity to send the match into a third set tiebreaker. A double fault coupled with a pair of backhand errors gave Tveit the clinching break.

Tveit took control of the opening set with an early break and grabbed a 3-0 lead before Rosa fought back to even the score at 4-4. Tveit regrouped and broke Rosa to claim the opening frame, 6-4.

Rosa rallied to fire off four of the first five points of the second set to gain an early break. The Brazilian never looked back and held serve five times en route to a 6-4 win to level the match at one set apiece.

Florida State's Jean-Yves Aubone and Clint Bowles won 14 of the 17 points played in tiebreakers to outlast Rice's Christoph Müller and Ralph Knupfer 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (0) Thursday evening at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the University of Tulsa campus.

The Seminole pair advances to face Ohio State's Drew Eberly and Justin Kronauge in the Round of 16. The Buckeye duo upset Tennessee's Kaden Hensel and J.P. Smith in three sets.

Müller and Knupfer held a match point at 6-5 on Bowles' serve in the third set. FSU responded and reeled off 10 straight points to close out the match.

The German duo wrapped up the dual match season with an 8-7 record and earned C-USA's Most Outstanding Doubles Team at the conference tournament in April.