The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Tennis Team Set For C-USA Championships
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 15, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team will travel to Orlando, Fla. this weekend for the 14th Annual Conference USA Championships.
The Blazers (10-10) are seeded seventh in the eight-team tournament and will play No. 2 seed Rice Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET in their first round match. The Owls will be a formidable opponent for UAB. Rice will enter the tournament with a 15-9 record and is ranked No. 37 nationally in the latest ITA rankings.
Both teams are coming into the tournament with wins in their last two matches. UAB defeated DePaul (5-2) last Saturday and followed that victory with a 4-3 win over Texas San Antonio on Sunday.
Rice defeated conference foe SMU, ranked No. 68, by a 7-0 score last Saturday, and then won an impressive 4-3 decision on the road Monday night over 12th-ranked Texas A&M.
The Owls have a pair of top-50 ranked singles players in senior Christoph Müller (No. 46) and junior Bruna Rosa (No. 47).
UAB doesn't have a nationally-ranked player on its roster but hopes its balance will be a key to success. The Blazers have had their most success at the No. 4 and 5 singles positions with 14-6 dual match records at each spot.
Freshman Daniel Moser and sophomore Tyrone Ewels have the top singles records this season for UAB at 13-7 and 10-2, respectively. Moser is 8-2 at the No. 4 position while Ewels is 6-0 at the No. 5 spot.
"Rice has an excellent team and we know we have a challenge in front of us," said UAB head coach Derek Tarr. "I was pleased with the way we came out ready to play in our two matches over the weekend and hope that will carry over for us on Friday."
Tulsa is the top seed in the tournament and will play No. 8 seed Memphis in its first match on Friday. East Carolina claimed the No. 4 seed and will go against No. 5 seed Southern Miss while third seed SMU takes on No. 6 seed UCF.
Tulsa's Arnau Brugues is the nation's No. 1-ranked collegiate singles player.
