Ghilea On To Championship Match

ATHENS, Ga. – Sophomore Alex Ghilea will represent the University of Oklahoma men's tennis team in the championship match of Division I singles at the Southern Intercollegiate Championship in Athens, Ga., Monday.

Ghilea won two matches on Sunday, defeating Pablo Gor of Armstrong State 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the morning quarterfinal match and knocking off Aleks Vukic of Illinois in the afternoon semifinal match.

“I'm so proud of Alex,” associate head coach Bo Hodge said. “He's one of the best competitors in the country. He lost the first set in both his matches today and found a way to come back and win. He's so physically fit and he was able to wear down both of his opponents today. It should be a great final tomorrow.”

The championship match will be played Monday morning at 8 a.m. CT. Ghilea will face No. 4 seed Wayne Montgomery of host school Georgia for the Division I singles title.

Ghilea has won four matches en route to the final match, dropping only two sets along the way.

Fellow Sooners Axel Alvarez and Nick Papac also saw action Sunday. Alvarez, a junior, won his Sunday morning quarterfinal match with Paul Oosterbaan of Georgia 6-1, 7-6 before falling to Ghilea's finals opponent, Montgomery, 6-1, 0-6, 3-6.

“Axel played a good first match, but he lost a tough match this afternoon,” Hodge said.

As the No. 1 overall seed, Alvarez won three matches in straight sets at the Southern Intercollegiate before falling in the semifinals.

Papac, a redshirt senior, also saw his tournament come to an end after dropping his quarterfinal match with Vukic, 2-6, 2-6.

“Nick's opponent just played better than him today,” Hodge said. “He was a little tired from yesterday, but he just lost to a guy who outplayed him.”

Papac won three matches in the tournament including a three-set, marathon win over No. 5 seed Ben Wagland of Georgia in the round of 32.

Ghilea's trip to the finals is the cherry on top of a banner weekend for the Sooners at the Southern Intercollegiate. All three Sooner players in the field advanced to the eight-man quarterfinals and two Sooners went as far as the semifinals. OU players have won 10 total matches over the weekend with Ghilea still to play in the championship match.

For more tournament information visit: http://bit.ly/WQ9foK

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