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Tulsa Men's Tennis Hosts Polo Tennis National Collegiate Preview
9/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 23, 2003
Tulsa, Okla. - The 2003 Polo Tennis National Collegiate Preview will take place this weekend at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on The University of Tulsa campus. The three-day tournament will run Friday through Sunday, Sept. 26-28, beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 8:00 a.m. on Sunday. The preview features some of the nation's top teams expected to return to Tulsa in May 2004 for the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships.
Eight teams will be competing in the men's invitational, all of which completed the 2002-03 season ranked in the top-75, including Arkansas (#39), Fresno State (#35), Oklahoma (#72), Oklahoma State (#19), Rice (#29), Texas (#13), Texas A&M (#11) and Tulsa (#49). Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas A&M advanced to the NCAA Tournament "Sweet Sixteen" in Athens, Georgia last May, while Arkansas, Fresno State and Rice advanced to the NCAA's field of 64 last year. The tournament will also feature 15 top-100 singles players and five top-50 doubles teams. Among the top-100 singles players are #14 Robert Searle (Rice), #16 Lester Cook (Texas A&M), #18 Richard Barker (Rice), #21 William Barker (Rice), #30 Alejandro Tejerina (Tulsa), #32 Mark Van Elden (Oklahoma State), #33 Ante Matijevic (Texas A&M), #39 Jose Zarhi (Texas), #55 Yevgen Bondarchuk (Oklahoma State), #58 Dustin Taylor (Tulsa), #71 Adrians Zguns (Arkansas), #74 Antonio Ruiz (Texas), #76 Hector Almada (Fresno State), #94 Stefan Suta (Fresno State) and #99 Khaled El Dorry (Texas A&M). The doubles tandems that will be competing, include, #1 William and Richard Barker (Rice), #2 Cook and Matijevic (Texas A&M), #6 Almada and Sergiu Modoc (Fresno State), #30 Zarhi and Ruiz (Texas) and #38 Suta and Greg Shearer (Fresno State).
The Hurricane men finished last season with a 12-13 record, missing the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in nine years. This season TU returns eight letterwinners and features two newcomers. Vince Westbrook begins his 13th year as the head men's tennis coach at The University of Tulsa, as well as his 10th year as the director of the Hurricane tennis programs. He boasts a 160-143 record at TU with the men's program, the most wins ever for a Tulsa coach.
