May 23, 2008

TULSA, Okla. - The Tulsa doubles team of Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham became the first Golden Hurricane All-Americans in tennis from the state of Oklahoma when they captured a victory in the round of 16 Friday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of The University of Tulsa.

Connelly and Cunningham won in straight sets over Maryland's No. 9-16 seeded Boris Fetbroyt and Andy Orban, 7-6 (4), 7-5, to advance to the quarterfinal round.

The Tulsa duo will play at 2:00 pm on Saturday against USC's No. 2-seeded team of Robert Farah and Kaes Van't Hof with a berth in the semifinals on the line.

Tulsa's Arnau Brugues, ranked 18th nationally, dropped his singles match against Ohio State's Steven Moneke, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. He closed out the season with an overall 22-9 record.

Tulsa's 27th-ranked doubles team improved its overall season record to 22-10.

Connelly and Cunningham becomes the fourth doubles pair in school history to advance to the quarterfinals and earn All-America status. The last time Tulsa has had a team advance to the doubles quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships was in 2003 when Ryan Livesay and Dustin Taylor made a quarterfinal appearance.