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TU Tennis Teams Kick Off Spring Season This Saturday
1/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 12, 2006
Tulsa, Okla. - The University of Tulsa men's and women's tennis teams will open the 2006 duel season on Saturday, January 14th, as the Golden Hurricane hosts five matches at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the TU campus. The 46th-ranked Golden Hurricane men will take on Texas Southern beginning at 8:00 a.m., Lamar at 2:00 p.m. and Prairie View A&M at 8:00 p.m. Tulsa's 73rd-ranked women's team will face Texas Southern at 11:00 a.m. and Prairie View A&M at 5:00 p.m.
The Golden Hurricane men will be led by 39th-ranked Ricardo Soriano, 73rd-ranked Diego Camacho, and the 45th-ranked doubles tandem of Federico Soriano and Will Gray. The TU men will play 20 duel matches this season, including 13 at the Case Tennis Center. Twelve of the 20 duel matches will be against teams currently ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, including No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 Stanford, No. 22 Texas, No. 24 Oklahoma State, No. 29 Auburn, No. 35 Rice, No. 42 Oklahoma, No. 44 SMU, No. 50 TCU, No. 51 Northwestern, No. 58 Arkansas and No. 74 Memphis.
TU returns eight letterwinners from last year's squad, which finished the duel season with a 15-11 record and as the 48th-ranked team in the nation. The Golden Hurricane returns seniors Camacho and Aleksander Charpantidis, juniors Lucques Maasdorp and Federico Soriano, sophomores Andy Connelly, Gray and Ricardo Soriano, and red-shirt freshman Ross Cunningham to the lineup. Tulsa also added two members to the team, sophomore-transfer Arnau Brugues and senior-transfer Olof Sjolund to enhance the depth of the squad.
Vince Westbrook will be leading Tulsa once again, as he is in his 15th season as the head men's tennis coach. He has compiled a career 187-168 (.527) record with the men's program, the most wins ever for a Tulsa coach.
The Golden Hurricane's 97th-ranked Carla Zabaleta, and the 48th-ranked duo of Kindsay Grimes and Zabaleta will lead the women in 23 duel matches this season, including 15 at the Case Tennis Center. Six of the 23 duel matches will be against teams currently ranked in the ITA poll, including No. 14 TCU, No. 18 Harvard, No. 43 LSU, No. 51 Rice, No. 62 Oklahoma and No. 66 SMU.
The women's team returns six letterwinners from last year's team, which finished the season with an 11-12 record. Tulsa returns seniors Daniela Muscolino and Tiffany Smith, juniors Santie Delport and Grimes, and sophomores Agostina Santoro and Carla Zabaleta to the lineup. TU also added two freshmen, Thalia Diaz-Barriga and Julie Westfall, to the squad.
After 12 seasons as the assistant coach for the men's tennis program, former Hurricane letterwinner Dean Orford, has taken over the reigns of the women's program, a seat vacated by the all-time winningest TU women's coach, Paige McMurray. Orford stepped into the position in June, after McMurray stepped down.
