Men's Tennis To End Home Campaign With OSU, UCF
4/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 2, 2012
TULSA, Okla. - The No. 18-ranked University of Tulsa men's tennis team will conclude its home campaign by hosting No. 75 Oklahoma State and Conference USA foe UCF at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. TU (10-8, 1-0 C-USA) will first face the Cowboys (7-9) at 5 p.m. April 4, and the team will then match up with the Knights (8-10, 0-2) at 11 a.m. April 7.
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
Oklahoma State (7-9) is currently on a two-match losing skid, but those losses were to top-25 teams. The Cowboys have posted victories over No. 52 Purdue, No. 57 UNLV and No. 73 DePaul. Losses have been to No. 13 Texas, No. 16 San Diego, No. 25 Texas A&M, and twice to No. 51/63 San Diego State. OSU has also lost to unranked opponents UAB, Liberty, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Oklahoma State currently has no ranked individuals, and the team is led by Chris Haworth and Eric West. Haworth is 11-4 this spring, playing primarily at the third position, while West is 10-3 playing mostly at three and four. OSU has only won the doubles point five times this season. Tulsa coach Vince Westbrook is 6-15 all-time against the Cowboys, and the Golden Hurricane took last year's matchup by a 4-0 decision.
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
UCF (8-10) has won three of its last four matches, and the team will face Oral Roberts a day before meeting Tulsa. The Knights are 0-6 against nationally-ranked opponents this season, and they have defeated Jacksonville, Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic, Davidson, Army, Winthrop, Nicholls State, and Illinois State. Jorge Blasco is 9-9 at the top of the lineup, and Erik Brunskog is 8-10 from the second position. Tulsa coach Vince Westbrook has never lost to UCF (4-0).
LAST TIME OUT
Tulsa was upset by No. 21 Oklahoma on March 27 5-2. The Golden Hurricane was swept during doubles play, and singles matches were won by senior Ashley Watling and junior Tristan Jackson. Watling is 11-2 in his last 13 matches, and Jackson is riding a five-match win streak.
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 are currently No. 19 in the nation. Four of the eight teams that have beaten Tulsa are now ranked higher than when they faced TU (No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 12 California, No. 19 San Diego, No. 22 Washington), and the other four teams are all inside the top 25 (No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 21 Oklahoma, No. 24 North Carolina).
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 domination of the award the past two seasons. Members of the Golden Hurricane have won 17 of the 23 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 has already captured six of the first 10 honors this year, including five in a row earlier this season. Senior Ashley Watling (January 31, February 7) and juniors Tristan Jackson (February 14), Clifford Marsland (February 21, February 28) and Grant Ive (March 26) have all won the award this year.
IVE CLAIMS FIRST-CAREER WEEKLY HONOR
Junior Grant Ive was named the Conference USA Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week for the first time in his career on March 26. He went 3-0 and helped lead Tulsa to a 4-3 upset victory over No. 18 Fresno State. He defeated FSU's David Ayoun at No. 4 singles 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. He also teamed with freshman Alejandro Espejo to clinch the doubles point. TU also topped Hawai'i 5-1, and Ive defeated Carter Lam 6-1, 6-0.
MARSLAND WINS SECOND-STRAIGHT C-USA WEEKLY AWARD
Junior Clifford Marsland was named the Conference USA Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week on both Feb. 21 and Feb. 28. During the two-week span, Marsland was a perfect 3-0 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles action. The highlight of the span was when he topped No. 58 Mousheg Hovhannisyan of No. 13 Pepperdine 6-4, 6-3. He picked up his second- and third-career weekly honor.
JACKSON CLAIMS FIRST-CAREER WEEKLY LAUREL
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.
WATLING EARNS BACK-TO-BACK C-USA MEN'S TENNIS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK HONORS
Senior Ashley Watling posted a perfect 7-0 mark from Jan. 27-Feb. 5, and for his efforts he earned back-to-back Conference USA Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week honors. Along the way, he topped No. 23 Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech, No. 92 Patrick Pohlmann of San Diego and Jesus Bandres of East Tennessee State. Watling has now won eight career honors. He won three each his sophomore and junior years.
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 tournament will be broadcast 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.
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. The Golden Hurricane has been the No. 1 seed in the last five 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) in the Conference USA Championship.
GOLDEN HURRICANE FACING ONE OF THE TOUGHEST SLATES IN THE NATION
Tulsa will be tested early and often by one of the most difficult schedules in the nation. The Golden Hurricane earned a preseason ITA national rank of No. 23, and the team will face at least 13 schools ranked inside the top 30 in the preseason rankings. Also on the docket are nine top-20 schools and three top-10 schools (No. 5 Baylor, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Kentucky) according to the preseason rankings. Eight top-30 schools will visit the Michael D. Case Tennis Center this season. Tulsa posted a 10-8 record against ranked opponents last year.
TULSA LEAPS NINE SPOTS TO NO. 18, THREE EARN INDIVIDUAL RANKS
Tulsa is currently ranked No. 18 in the most recent Campbell/ITA College Tennis rankings released March 27. The newest individual rankings were released March 27, and Tulsa's top doubles team of senior Ashley Watling and junior Clifford Marsland sit at No. 4 in the nation. Earlier in the season, Watling and Marsland tied the school record with their No. 3 doubles rank. Sophomore Japie De Klerk is the highest ranked singles player at No. 83, and he is followed by Watling (No. 89) and Marsland (No. 93).
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 315-229 record for a .579 win percentage. The 315 wins are a school record.
