Friday, 03/29/2013

The University of Tulsa men’s tennis team, coming off of a 7-0 triumph over Wichita State on Wednesday night, will conclude the weekend with a pair of tilts. The No. 24-ranked Golden Hurricane (9-6) will face conference foe Rice, ranked No. 69, on Friday, March 29, in a 2 p.m. match at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. TU will face No. 58 New Mexico on Monday, April 1, in a 2 p.m. affair.

ABOUT THE MATCHES

Live scoring can be found here for all outdoor matches and here for all indoor matches at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Fans can also follow @TulsaMTennis on Twitter to keep up to date on the matches.


THE SERIES

Under Head Coach Vince Westbrook, Tulsa has a 16-9 mark against Rice, and a 2-4 record against New Mexico.

GOLDEN HURRICANE HAS ENDURED TOUGH SCHEDULE

The Hurricane has faced a tough schedule, as 13 of its 15 matches this year have come against ranked opponents. Tulsa will face a ranked opponent in its final four matches of the regular season.

 DE KLERK AND MARSLAND CRACK THE TOP 50

In this week’s ITA Rankings, Japie De Klerk checked in at No. 35, while Clifford Marsland jumped from No. 84 to No. 49. As a team, Tulsa fell to No. 24 after being ranked No. 21 in last week’s poll.

LAST TIME OUT:

Wichita State (March 27, 2013)

Playing outside for the first time all season at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, the No. 24 ranked Tulsa men's tennis squad swept Wichita State, 7-0, on Wednesday, March 27.

Tulsa battled during doubles competition, as it fell behind after Clifford Marsland and Alejandro Espejo fell on Court No. 1, 8-2, to Tin Ostojic and Matheus Pereira. The Hurricane rallied securing triumphs at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to win the point. At No. 2 doubles, Grant Ive and Tristan Jackson earned an 8-6 win over Guillermo Nicol and Tomislav Gregurovic, and on Court No. 3,Japie De Klerk and Carlos Bautista snared an 8-6 victory against Alvaro Gutierrez and Ilija Curic. 

he Hurricane jumped out quickly to a 3-0 lead in singles play, as No. 49 ranked Marsland defeated Pereira, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 1 singles. Jackson, playing on Court No. 6, snared a 6-2, 6-1 win over Gutierrez.

TU secured the triumph on Court No. 3, as Ive rallied to defeat Gregurovic, 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 to propel the Hurricane to a 4-0 advantage.

Bautista earned a 6-3, 7-5 win against Nicol at No. 5 singles, which also marked the freshman's fourth win in a row.

Espejo came back in his match at No. 4 singles to dispatch Ostojic 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

De Klerk tallied the final win for the Hurricane as the No. 35-ranked singles player in the country defeated Cuic, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. The triumph marked De Klerk's eighth win in a row.

LAST TIME AGAINST THIS WEEK’S FOES:

Rice (April 13, 2012)

The No. 26-ranked University of Tulsa men's tennis team defeated No. 44 Rice 6-1 on April 13, 2012, at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.

Tulsa opened play by taking the doubles point on two of three courts, and the team was leading 5-0 before Rice could finally capture a point.

The sixth-ranked doubles team of Ashley Watling and Clifford Marsland posted a convincing 8-2 victory over Christian Saravia and Justin To at the top of the doubles lineup.

Rice was able to square doubles action when Japie De Klerk and Alejandro Espejo fell 8-5 to Sam Garforth-Bles and Leif Berger at the third position.

The tandem of Grant Ive and Tristan Jackson blew open a tight match at No. 2 doubles to defeat Michael Nuesslein and Jonathan Chang 8-5, clinching the doubles point.

Ive gave Tulsa a quick 2-0 advantage after he got past Nuesslein 6-1, 6-2 at the fourth singles position.

No. 83-ranked Watling took down Chang 6-2, 6-4 from the third singles court, and No. 93 Marsland gave

Tulsa the team victory after he defeated Saravia 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-3 at the second flight. Watling improved to 17-3 in two-set matches in his senior year. 

Jackson gave Tulsa a fifth point on the fifth court when he defeated Peter Frank 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2.

No. 92 De Klerk defeated Garforth-Bles 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-3 at the top of the lineup to give Tulsa the 6-1 victory.

New Mexico (Feb. 9, 2003)

The 51st-ranked Tulsa men's tennis team (4-3) defeated 61st-ranked New Mexico, 5-2 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on The University of Tulsa campus.

TU's 19th-ranked doubles team, Dustin Taylor and Ryan Livesay, crushed UNM's Henry Gers and Brent Salazar, 8-2 at the No. 1 doubles slot. The Golden Hurricane, however, lost at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, losing the doubles point.

In singles competition, on the other hand, TU dominated, winning five of six points. Tulsa's 43rd-ranked Alejandro Tejerina defeated New Mexico's 60th-ranked Bart Scott, 6-3, 6-4 in the top slot, while Taylor defeated Lobos' 67th-ranked Divan Coetzee, 6-1, 6-4.

In the middle of the line up, Golden Hurricane teammates Livesay and Shunsuke Shimizu defeated David Kowalski and Salazar at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively, while Olof Sjolund picked up an easy win at the No. 6 slot, defeating New Mexico's Nick Ames, 6-1, 6-3.