Tulsa Men’s Tennis Defeats No. 21 Cal. and Oral Roberts To Begin 2016 Season

Friday, January 15

Tulsa, Okla.

10:00 a.m.

Tulsa

Oral Roberts University

Tulsa Men’s Tennis Defeats No. 21 Cal. and Oral Roberts To Begin 2016 Season

1/15/2016 9:27:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Drake Allen

TULSA, Okla. – The Tulsa men's tennis team defeated the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, 7-0, Friday morning, and turned around to defeat the No. 21-ranked University of California Bears, 4-3, Friday night at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The Golden Hurricane won all three doubles matches against the Golden Eagles, and it swept ORU in singles play winning all six singles matches. Newcomers, Francois and Okkie Kellerman, picked up their first career doubles win at Tulsa against Barnabas Koncz and Kenneth Boykin of ORU.

"I thought that the ORU match was great," Head Coach Vince Westbrook said. "We played good in the doubles, and good in the singles. We had two different line ups today, and it has been a while since I have had a team this deep. We put a different lineup out there and I think that we were pretty convincing."

TU came out aggressive against No. 21-ranked Cal. winning two out the three doubles matches giving the Hurricane a 1-0 match advantage going into singles play. Junior Or Ram-Harel upset the nation's No. 3-ranked singles player, Andre Goransson, and senior Carlos Bautista routed out the No. 30-ranked singles player, Florian Lakat. The dual came down to one singles match, and sophomore Mitchell Pritchard defeated J.T. Nishimura to deliver a Tulsa win.

"Cal. is going to be the favorite in the northern part of the Pac-12, and they are one of the best teams in the country," said Westbrook. "Ram-Harel goes out and beats the No. 3 player in the country, and Bautista goes out and beats the No. 30 player in the country. Our three and four spots weren't very good, but I don't think that our freshmen have played in an environment like this. Our doubles was awesome, and it came down to our upper classmen. I think that we are at about 60% or 70% of what we can do, but it's going to be a puzzle putting the pieces together against the right opponents. "

Tulsa plays No. 26 Northwestern on Jan. 22, and No. 6 Illinois on Jan. 23 at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill. Tulsa then returns home to take on No. 69 Wichita State on Jan. 31, and No. 72 Arkansas on Feb. 12.

Follow Tulsa Men's Tennis Team on Twitter (http://twitter.com/TulsaMTennis) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TulsaMTennis). Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter atwww.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane.

The University of Tulsa's Michael D. Case Tennis Center is host site for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships, May 19-30

• (Tulsa)Kirby/McCloskey defeated Saletovic/Pehnec(ORU), 6-4
• (Tulsa)F.Kellerman/O.Kellerman defeated Koncz/Boykin, 6-2
• (Tulsa)Gonzalez/Bautista defeated sosnowski/Santamaria(ORU), 6-4
• (Tulsa)Gonzalez defeated Saletovic(ORU), 6-4, 6-2
• (Tulsa)McCloskey defeated Pehnec(ORU), 6-4, 6-3
• (Tulsa)O.Kellerman defeated Koncz(ORU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
• (Tulsa)Santos defeated Sosnowski(ORU), 6-1, 6-2
• (Tulsa)Bechard defeated Boykin(ORU), 6-2, 7-6(5)
• (Tulsa)Gordon defeated Santamaria(ORU), 6-2, 6-2
• (Tulsa)Ram-Harel defeated Goransson(Cal.), 7-6, 6-4
• (Tulsa)Bautista defeated Lakat(Cal.), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
• (Tulsa)Pritchard defeated Nishimure(Cal.), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5)
• (Tulsa)McCloskey/Kirby defeated Goransson/Lakat(Cal.), 6-4
• (Tulsa)Gonzalez/Bautista defeated Griffith/Nishimura(Cal.), 6-4
• (Tulsa)O.Kellerman/F.Kellerman lost to Bergevi/Engsted(Cal.), 6-2
• (Tulsa)Kirby lost to Bergevi(Cal.), 6-1, 6-2
• (Tulsa)F.Kellerman lost to Wikberg(Cal.), 6-3, 6-0
• (Tulsa)Kilani lost to Griffith(Cal.), 6-4, 6-3