March 18, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
IRVING, Texas - In Conference USA Men's Tennis, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane moved up to No. 8 in the latest ITA rankings. Rice remains in the Top 25 at No. 17, while UAB is No. 47 and SMU is No. 56. Tulsa junior Arnau Brugues is the top ranked men's individual player at No. 18.
In C-USA Women's Tennis, Tulsa is also the top ranked team at No. 48, Marshall is No. 62. Rice comes in at No. 64, while East Carolina is No. 73. Marshall's Kellie Schmitt remains the lone ranked women's individual player at No. 60, while Schmitt and doubles partner Karolina Soor remian ranked in doubles at No. 23.
WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK (3/18)
THALIA DIAZ-BARRIGA - Tulsa
Jr., Cordoba, Veracruz, Mexico (Univ. of Miami Online)
Diaz-Barriga picked up her 10th and 11th singles victories last weekend in Dallas, Texas against No. 47 Louisville and No. 70 SMU. In Tulsa's tough 4-3 loss to No. 47 Louisville, Diaz-Barriga defeated Lindsey Jones, 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 2 position. In TU's 5-2 victory over C-USA rival SMU, Diaz-Barriga downed Pavi Francis, 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 2 position. With the two singles victories she is now 11-5 on the season. She also went 1-1 in doubles on the weekend with partner Marta Marcinkowska. The pair beat Louisville's team of Lauren Imre / Lindsey Jones, 8-5, in the No. 2 position. Against SMU, the duo fell to Kristen Reid / Nicole Briceno, 8-6, in a closely contested match. This is the first career weekly honor for Diaz-Barriga.
MEN'S TENNIS PLAYER ATHLETE OF THE WEEK (3/18)
ARNAU BRUGUES - Tulsa
Jr., Barcelona, Spain (Univ. of Barcelona)
At the Blue/Gray National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., No. 41 Brugues went 3-0 against ranked opponents, leading Tulsa to the 2008 event title. Against No. 30 Notre Dame in the second round, Brugues defeated No. 17 Brett Helgeson, 6-4, 6-3. In the semifinals againts No. 65 Penn State, Brugues downed No. 62 Michael James, 6-4, 6-2. In the finals against No. 25 Texas Tech, Brugues beat No. 35 Bojan Szumanski, 6-4, 6-1. Brugues is currently on a five-match winning streak with four wins against ranked opponents. In the finals of the Blue/Gray against No. 25 Texas Tech, Brugues along with teammate Ricardo Soriano dominated the No. 42-ranked pair of Michael Breler/Sinisa Markovic, 8-3. The No. 35-ranked doubles team of Brugues/Soriano is 12-2 on the season. The weekly honor is the sixth of Brugues' career, the first in 2007-08 for the All-American.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Conference USA will name a male and female tennis Athlete of the Week throughout the regular season. The weekly accolades are selected by the media relations department and announced every Tuesday throughout the season.
MEN'S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
J22 - Bruno Rosa, Rice
J29 - Amrit Narasimhan, Memphis
F5 - Christoph Müller, Rice
F12 - Bruno Rosa, Rice
F19 - Will Gray, Tulsa
F26 - Dan Cornei, UAB
M4 - David Kuczer, SMU
M11 - Tarek Ben Soltane, UCF
M18 - Arnau Brugues, Tulsa
WOMEN'S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
22 - Kellie Schmitt, Marshall
J29 - Kellie Schmitt, Marshall
F5 - Alexandra Kichoutkin, Tulsa
F12 - Natalia Bubien, SMU
F19 - Dominique Karas, Rice
Alexandra Kichoutkin, Tulsa
F26 - Kseniia Tokarieva, SMU
M4 - Alexandra Kichoutkin, Tulsa
M11 - Kellie Schmitt, Marshall
M18 - Thalia Diaz-Barriga, Tulsa
OTHER NOTABLE MEN'S PERFORMANCES
BRUNO ROSA - Rice
So., Florianopolis, Brazil
Rosa won both of his matches as No. 11 Rice dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision to No. 17 Florida State. Rosa grabbed an 8-3 victory at No. 3 doubles with partner Vishnu Rajam. He then defeated No. 24 Jean-Yves Aubone at No. 1 singles.
ROBIN FAHGEN - SMU
So., Smedjebacken, Sweden
Fahgen went undefeated in singles and doubles last weekend as No. 71 SMU defeated San Francisco and No. 36 California. Fahgen has won four straight singles matches and three straight in doubles.
BLAZE SCHWARTZ - UCF
Fr., Pensacola, Fla.
Schwartz has strung together five-straight wins in singles play, giving him a 5-0 record at No. 6. Schwartz also boasts a 4-1 record in doubles at No. 3 with partner Tarek Ben Soltane.
OTHER NOTABLE WOMEN'S PERFORMANCES
JESSICA KEENER - Marshall
Jr., Reston, Va.
Keener went 2-0 at the No. 6 singles line to improve to 7-1 at the bottom of the Marshall lineup. Keener is also 2-0 at No. 4 singles this spring. The junior played at No. 3 doubles and notched two wins with partner Yulia Kashelkina.
REBECCA LIN - Rice
So., San Diego, Calif.
Lin picked up a pair of singles wins to go along with a doubles victory as No. 72 Rice won its sixth and seventh consecutive matches against UCF and Abilene Christian.
NICOLE BRICENO - SMU
So., Pembroke Pines, Fla.
Briceno had a solid week for the Mustangs, winning her singles and doubles matches against league rival Tulsa. She also played solid against No. 47 Louisville, but fell in a three-set singles match and a close 8-6 doubles decision.
KYLA MCNICOL - UCF
Sr., Winnipeg, Manitoba
McNicol went a combined 3-1 last week to help UCF go 1-1 with a 5-1 win over Syracuse and a close 4-3 loss to No. 49 Dartmouth. The senior is 13-7 in singles this year and 10-9 in doubles play.
ITA MEN'S TEAM RANKINGS
(Mar. 18)
Rank School
8 Tulsa
17 Rice
45 UAB
56 SMU
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
(Mar. 18)
Singles Individual
18 Arnau Brugues, Tulsa
26 Bruno Rosa, Rice
49 Christoph Müller, Rice
62 Robin Fahgen, SMU
73 Robin Fahgen, SMU
Doubles Team
16 Knupfer/Müller, Rice
19 Cunningham/Connelly, Tulsa
36 Soriano/Brugues, Tulsa
ITA WOMEN'S TEAM RANKINGS
(Mar. 18)
Rank School
48 Tulsa
62 Marshall
64 Rice
73 East Carolina
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
(Mar. 18)
Singles Individual
60 Kellie Schmitt, Marshall
Doubles Team
23 Schmitt/Soor, Marshall
WEEKLY RELEASE
The Conference USA media relations staff will produce a weekly release each Tuesday throughout the season, including Athlete of the Week selections and updated standings. Complete league statistics and results will be updated daily throughout the season on the Conference website.
ON THE WEB
For the latest Conference USA tennis match recaps, scores, standings, stats and weekly notebooks please log on to the league's official website: www.ConferenceUSA.com
