April 29, 2008

Men's Tennis All-Conference Awards

IRVING, Texas - Tulsa received the top two Conference USA men's tennis honors on Tuesday as the 2008 All-Conference USA Men's Tennis awards were announced by the league office. TU senior Arnau Brugues earned C-USA Player of the Year and All-League first-team recognition for the third consecutive year, while head coach Vince Westbrook was named Coach of the Year for the third straight time after leading his team to back-to-back-to-back C-USA men's tennis titles. Tulsa is just the second team in league history to win three-straight championships, joining Tulane who did it from 2003-2005.

Brugues is 17-7 in singles this spring at the No. 1 spot, including a 9-6 mark against ranked opponents. He has a 17-4 mark at the No. 2 doubles line this spring with partner Ricardo Soriano. He is currently No. 16 in the ITA singles rankings. The senior was also named C-USA Men's Tennis Player of the Week once this spring.

Westbrook has tallied a 245-190 (.563) career mark with the men's program and led the No. 11 Golden Hurricane to its fifth conference championship title overall and third as a member of C-USA. In Tulsa's eight C-USA championship matches the last three seasons, the Golden Hurricane has outscored its opponents, 37-3.

In addition to his other accolades, Brugues was named C-USA's Outstanding Player of the Championship. The senior helped secure the league title with three straight-set wins at his No. 1 singles position and was 2-0 with Sorinao at the No. 2 doubles line during the championship.

The 25th-ranked Rice tandem of Ralph Knupfer and Christoph Müller were selected Outstanding Doubles Team of the Championship. The duo was ahead or tied in all three of their doubles matches at the C-USA Championship, including a 7-5 edge against No. 27 Andy Connelly and Ross Cunningham of Tulsa. For the season, the pair went 8-6 and 3-3 against ranked competition. The duo notched a 9-8 win to clinch the doubles point against North Carolina's then-No. 3 ranked pair of Fogelman/Kearney earlier in the fall.

Tulsa freshman Victor Kolik, who went 13-4 in 2008 at the No. 2 and 3 spots for Tulsa, claimed C-USA's Freshman of the Year honors. Kolik went 7-2 at No. 2 and 5-1 at No. 3 for TU and was 4-3 against ranked opponents. In league play, he finished 2-0 and was named C-USA Player of the Week on one occasion this spring.

Newcomer of the Year honors went to sophomore Bruno Rosa of Rice. The first-year performer saw almost all of his action at the top of the Owls' lineup and finished the spring with a team-best 17-5 record. Rosa strung together 14 straight victories to start the spring season that included the 2008 National Collegiate Tennis Classic championship. Rosa was named C-USA Player of the Week four times this spring and went 8-4 against ranked foes. He is ranked No. 14 in the ITA rankings.

Three teams were represented on the all-league first team. Joining Brugues as first-team members were teammates Kolik and Soriano, as well as Rice's Rosa and Müller and SMU's Robin Fahgen. Representing the All-Conference Doubles Team were also duos from Tulsa and Rice. Knupfer and Müller of Rice were joined on the team by the TU duos of Cunningham and Connelly along with Bruges and Soriano.

Tulsa led the all-league teams with nine selections, while the Owls followed with six selections and SMU notched three honors for the second year in a row.