Tulsa Men’s Tennis Claims 2024 NIT Championship Title

Wednesday, May 8

Bradenton, Fla.

8:00 a.m.

Tulsa

(2) #60 Pacific

Tulsa Men’s Tennis Claims 2024 NIT Championship Title

5/8/2024 4:41:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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BRADENTON, Fla. — The No. 1-seeded Tulsa men's tennis team reigns supreme as the champions of the 2024 UTR Sports NIT Championship in its second year as a postseason tournament. The Golden Hurricane never trailed in their 4-1 victory over the two-seed Pacific Tigers Wednesday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. The Tulsa men's season comes to a close at an 18-13 record, the best season-ending mark since 2015 (18-13).

Senior Thiago Pernas was named Men's MVP after going 3-0 for the Hurricane at No. 1 Singles and 2-0 at No. 3 doubles. Director of Tennis and Men's Head Coach Vince Westbrook brings home his first postseason national title in his 33^rd year at the helm.

"Coming down here and playing in these hot conditions was tough," said Westbrook. "The guys took care of their bodies, and we were smart in how we handled ourselves. Our guys stuck to the game plan and kept themselves hydrated. We were very efficient on the courts having to play without our usual No. 1 doubles team, without our No. 1 singles player and without Victor [Tosetto]. Everybody had to contribute. The six guys we had left contributed. If you look through our matches in this tournament, everybody had a hand in winning this championship."

"[Our seniors] are very happy," continued Westbrook. "They've gone through a lot, and they are on top of the world right now. They walked out and fought hard. Pacific has a really good team, one of the best in the history of their program. With them knocking off Liberty yesterday, they fought us all the way."

Tulsa started the day with the coveted doubles point, taking the top two positions in 6-4 decisions to open the day. Clinching the 1-0 advantage for Tulsa was senior Callum Gale and freshman Alex Okonkwo, leaving seniors Thiago Pernas and Volodymyr Zakharov unfinished down 4-5 in the third spot.

Grabbing his first singles win of the tournament was Zakharov at the three-spot against Terence Das. Zakharov never trailed after breaking a 2-2 tie in the first set to prevail 6-3, 6-1, ending his season on a six-match win streak at 9-4.

Pernas made it a 3-0 dual match when the Buenos Aries, Argentina, product stormed back from down 5-0 in the second set to emerge victorious in a 6-3, 7-5 decision, good for his third consecutive win atop the lineup for the Hurricane. Pernas caps off a 14-5 campaign in his final year of eligibility.

The Tigers avoided a shutout when Tommy Czaplinski took the sixth position in two sets, ending with a 8-6 tiebreaker to give Pacific its only point of the day.

Like his Ukrainian teammate in Zakharov, senior Callum Gale got his first NIT tournament win in a back-and-forth three-set 6-4, 3-6 6-2 winner over Tiago Silva to clinch and end the championship for the Golden Hurricane. Gale served a strong match with five aces to one double fault. He ends his final year with TU with a career-best dual-match record of 12-9.

Sophomore Timothy Carlsson Seger (7-6 (7-0), 4-5) and Okonkwo (6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 0-0) left their matches unfinished in the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

Singles
1. Thiago Pernas (TLS) def. Justas Trainauskas (PAC) 6-2, 7-5
2. Callum Gale (TLS) def. Tiago Silva (PAC) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
3. Volodymyr Zakharov (TLS) def. Terence Das (PAC) 6-3, 6-1
4. Timothy Seger (TLS) vs. Ran Amar (PAC) 7-6 (7-0), 4-5, unfinished
5. Alex Okonkwo (TLS) vs. Andre Rodeia (PAC) 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 0-0, unfinished
6. Tommy Czaplinski (PAC) def. Gus Tettamble (TLS) 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)

Doubles
1. Callum Gale/Alex Okonkwo (TLS) def. Justas Trainauskas/Ran Amar (PAC) 6-4
2. Timothy Seger/Gus Tettamble (TLS) def. Tiago Silva/ Tommy Czaplinski (PAC) 6-4
3. Thiago Pernas/Volodymyr Zakharov (TLS) vs. Andre Rodeia/Christof Coffey (PAC) 4-5, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (3,1,6,2)