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Tulsa Heads To Orlando To Defend League Title
4/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 18, 2012
Weekly Notes
| 2012 C-USA Men's Tennis Championship Page
SCOUTING THE PIRATES
East Carolina (13-10, 0-4 C-USA) has lost all four matches against ranked opponents this season. The team fell to No. 41 UNC Wilmington, No. 43 Memphis, No. 59 N.C. State and No. 67 UAB. The team is led by Joran Vliegen, who boasts a 13-5 record from the No. 1 position this season. Three other players have double-digit victories. Tulsa has met the Pirates in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Championship in 2007 and `11, and the Golden Hurricane posted 4-0 triumphs both times.
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
UCF (9-12, 0-3 C-USA) traveled to Tulsa and suffered a 7-0 setback April 7. The Knights are 0-8 against ranked teams this year. They are led by Joe Delinks, who has posted an 11-6 mark playing primarily at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions. Mario Samson is 10-11 playing in the middle of the lineup. Tulsa faced UCF one other time in the C-USA Championship, which was a 4-0 Golden Hurricane triumph in the 2008 semifinals. Tulsa head coach Vince Westbrook is 5-0 all-time against UCF.
LAST TIME OUT
Tulsa ended the regular season with three wins on the road in a five-day stretch. TU won at No. 28 Baylor (4-3), No. 44 Rice (6-1) and Tulane (5-0). Junior Tristan Jackson was 6-0 overall and extended his win streak in singles to a career-high 10 matches. Fellow juniors Clifford Marsland and Grant Ive both posted 5-1 records, and freshman Alejandro Espejo was 3-2 overall.
TULSA AT THE C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP
Tulsa has competed in six C-USA Championships since joining the league in 2005-06, and the Golden Hurricane has captured five of those six titles. TU began its run in 2006, when the team defeated top-seed Rice 4-1 in the title match. The Golden Hurricane has earned the No. 1 seed in each of the last six tournaments, and the team has faced Rice in the title match all six years. The Owls' lone win came in 2010, when they defeated TU 4-3. Tulsa was able to reclaim the throne in 2011, winning all three matches by 4-0 decisions. The Golden Hurricane owns an all-time record of 17-1 (.944) at the Conference USA Championship.
UCF TO HOST CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2012 Conference USA Championship is scheduled to take place April 19-22 at the UCF Tennis Complex in Orlando, Fla. This year's championship match will be broadcast on tape-delay by Fox Sports Net. Ron Thulin will be on the call, with Jimmy Arias providing color commentary. The FSN producer for the event will be Bob Steinfeld, and Mark Vittorio will be directing the championship. This will be the second time UCF will be hosting the event since the latest C-USA merger in 2005-06. The Knights also hosted the tournament in 2009. Other hosts have been Tulsa (2006, `11), Rice (2007, `10) and SMU (2008). The last time UCF hosted the event, top-seeded Tulsa captured the title with a 4-1 victory over No. 2 seed Rice. Senior Ashley Watling is the lone member of the Golden Hurricane who remains from that team. He posted a 3-1 record in the championship (1-0 singles, 2-1 doubles) his freshman year to help lead Tulsa to the championship. Two of his singles matches went unfinished.
FIGHTING FOR THE NCAA'S
The top 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams will all compete for individual national titles in the season-ending NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in Athens, Ga. The respective tournaments will run from May 23-28. The top-ranked singles player/doubles teams from each conference will all earn automatic bids into the fields. The top three ranked singles players from Conference USA all play for Tulsa. Senior Ashley Watling (85), junior Clifford Marsland (94) and sophomore Japie De Klerk (103) are all fighting to earn C-USA's automatic bid. Memphis' David O'Leary (No. 114) is the only other ranked singles player from the league. Currently, the top-ranked doubles team in Conference USA is Tulsa's Watling and Marsland, who comprise the ninth-ranked tandem in the nation. They are the lone ranked doubles team from Conference USA, and the ITA ranks the top 90 doubles tandems.
TULSA'S 8 LOSSES
All of Tulsa's eight losses this season have been to teams that were ranked inside the top 25 when they faced the Golden Hurricane. The lowest-ranked team to beat TU was No. 25 San Diego, and the Toreros still sit at No. 25 in the nation. Four of the eight teams that have beaten Tulsa are now ranked higher then when they faced TU (No. 6 Kentucky, No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 18 North Carolina), two are ranked the same (No. 14 California, No. 25 San Diego), and the other two are ranked inside the top 26 (No. 12 Stanford, No. 26 Washington).
GOLDEN HURRICANE DOMINATES C-USA TENNIS ATHLETE OF WEEK HONORS
The C-USA Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week award should be renamed The University of Tulsa Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week after TU's complete domination of the award the past two seasons. Members of the Golden Hurricane have won 19 of the 26 possible weekly honors dating back to the beginning of the 2011 campaign. Tulsa athletes won a league-record nine in a row to close out last year. The Golden Hurricane captured eight of the 13 honors this year, including five in a row earlier this season. Senior Ashley Watling (January 31, February 7, April 10) and juniors Tristan Jackson (February 14, April 17), Clifford Marsland (February 21, February 28) and Grant Ive (March 26) all won the award this year.
JACKSON SECURES FIRST 2 C-USA WEEKLY LAURELS
Junior Tristan Jackson was named the Conference USA Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week Feb. 14. He earned his first-career weekly laurel after helping lead the Golden Hurricane to an upset victory over No. 11 Texas A&M and a triumph over Wichita State. He won both his singles matches in straight sets, which included a 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 triumph over No. 73 Jeremy Efferding of Texas A&M. He also topped Erick Reyes of Wichita State 6-2, 6-3. Jackson picked up his second-career victory over a ranked opponent and his first of the season.
TULSA STANDS AT NO. 23, THREE EARN INDIVIDUAL RANKS
Tulsa is currently ranked No. 23 in the most recent Campbell/ITA College Tennis rankings released April 17. The newest individual rankings were released April 17, and Tulsa's top doubles team of senior Ashley Watling and junior Clifford Marsland sit at No. 9 in the nation. Earlier in the season, Watling and Marsland tied the school record with their No. 3 doubles rank. Watling is the highest-ranked singles player at No. 85, and he is followed by Marsland (No. 94) and sophomore Japie De Klerk (No. 103).
WESTBROOK IN 21ST YEAR AT THE HELM
Vince Westbrook is currently in his 21st year at the helm of the men's tennis program. He reached the 300-win plateau last season, and he currently owns a 320-229 record for a .583 win percentage. The 320 wins are a school record. He also owns a 178-77 (.698) mark at home.
