April 15, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

IRVING, Texas - Rice's Bruno Rosa and Tulsa's Will Gray share this week's Conference USA Men's Tennis Player of the Week award after both helping their teams to ranked wins last week. Rosa picked up a win at No. 1 singles over No. 15 Conner Pollock of Texas A&M to help his team to the 4-3 win over its in-state rival, while Gray clinched TU's victory over No. 19 Oklahoma State with his win at No. 3 singles. Rosa and Gray have helped lead their teams to the top two seeds in this week's C-USA Men's Tennis Championship, respectively. Marshall's Karolina Soor is the Women's Tennis Player of the Week. Soor went 3-1 in singles and doubles action last week as No. 62 Marshall upset No. 56 Virginia Tech, 4-3, and No. 39 Louisville, 5-2.

CO-MEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK (4/15)
BRUNO ROSA - Rice
Sr., Tulsa, Okla. (Holland Hall)
Rosa continued his strong play at the No. 1 singles position by picking up another victory over a ranked opponent last week as the Owls took down No. 21 Texas A&M, 4-3. The Brazilian upended the No. 15 Conner Pollock of the Aggies in convincing fashion, 6-3, 6-2. After splitting the first six games of the opening set, Rosa took control of the match winning nine of the final 11 games. Rosa also teamed with Dennis Polyakov for the Owls lone doubles triumph, a hard-fought 8-6 win over Matt Bain and Chris Chirico in the No. 3 match. Rosa and the Owls (14-7) will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming C-USA Men's Tennis Championship.This is Rosa's fourth honor in 2008 (Jan. 22, Feb. 12, Mar. 25) and the fourth of his career.

CO-MEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK (4/15)
WILL GRAY - Tulsa
Sr., Tulsa, Okla. (Holland Hall)
Gray clinched the victory for the Golden Hurricane in his final home regular season match against No. 19 Oklahoma State at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center last week. The senior defeated No. 110 Dmytro Petrov, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) at the No. 3 position. The win gives Gray 21 singles victories on the season and puts him in sole possession of fifth place on TU's all-time singles victories list. The Tulsa native now is 15-6 on the spring season and has helped TU to an 18-4 overall record and a 12-4 record against ranked foes entering this week's C-USA Men's Tennis Championship. The Golden Hurricane are the No. 1 seed in the event. This is Gray's second weekly honor is 2008 (Feb. 19) and the third of his career.

WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK (4/15)
KAROLINA SOOR - Marshall
Jr., Lindesberg, Sweden (Adalsskolan)
Soor went 3-1 in singles and doubles action last week as No. 62 Marshall upset No. 56 Virginia Tech, 4-3, and No. 39 Louisville, 5-2. The junior defeated No. 120 Yasmin Hamza of Virginia Tech, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to clinch the match for the Herd after downing Jessica Brouwer/J.J. Larson, 8-2, in doubles with her partner Kellie Schmitt. Against the Cardinals, the No. 26 duo of Soor and Schmitt defeated Bianca Gorbea/Natalia Baez 8-4 to run their doubles record to 17-3 at the No. 1 position. Soor is now 5-2 at the No. 3 singles line and helped her team close out the 2008 season at 15-8. The Herd will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming C-USA Women's Tennis Championship. The weekly honor is the first of Soor's career.