Team Hopes To Serve Up An Ace

The hype surrounds hoops this time of year. Come fall the focus is football. But, after the madness in March ends and prior to the pigskin and popping pads nature of football there's an Oklahoma sports team making a bid for a National Championship.

It's the grunting and glorious TU Men's Tennis team. The Golden Hurricane is a top 10 team nationally and the Case Tennis Center is home to this year's NCAA Championships.

"All our friends are going to be here," said TU senior Alberto Sottocorno. "We're playing on our courts. You can't ask for anything else."

There's the student support and the $10 million facility, but Tulsa's biggest weapon has been Arnau Brugues. The junior from Barcelona is ranked 18th nationally among singles players.

"All those factors give us the motivation every day," Sottocorno said. "We believe we're a top 10 team and we believe we can win the NCAA's. That's our goal."

The Golden Hurricane's schedule has been far from easy. By the time TU begins post-season play, they will have faced an array ranked opponents.

"They put together a very tough schedule," Sottocorno said. "And we faced the top five teams in the nation. Georgia and Stanford at the beginning of the season and that gave us the confidence."

Confidence to translate what they do in March, to make madness in May.

By Kyle Dierking, Video Journalist. Find more of his stories in our Web Exclusives section.