May 23, 2013

NORMAN, Okla. -- Sooners dueled in lengthy matches, but split results Thursday at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships at Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill.

OU juniors Hermon Brhane and Whitney Ritchie, ranked ninth by the ITA, defeated Texas A&M’s Stefania Hristove and Cristina Stancu, ranked No. 18, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

Brhane and Ritchie will face the winner of a match between South Carolina’s Jaklin Alawi and Dominika Kanakova and Illinois’ Melissa Kopinski and Rachael White in the round of 16 Friday.

OU men’s tennis junior Guillermo Alcorta dropped since second round match by the slimmest of margins. No. 58 Alcorta lost to Pepperdine’s Sebastian Fanselow, ranked No. 11, by the final point of a third set tiebreaker, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8).

Alcorta, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 Championship, finished the spring with a 19-6 record.