Oct. 3, 2006

Tulsa, Okla. (SMU) - Alex Skrypko and Federico Murgier paired for a thrilling 9-8 (3) win over Tulsa's duo of Will Gray and Andy Connelly today in first round action of the qualifying round of the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships hosted by Tulsa University. But the duo was unable to overturn Federico Chavarria and Marek Velicka of Oklahoma in the second round as they fell, 8-5.

"It was a great win for them," head coach Carl Neufeld said. "They played really well today."

In singles action, Murgier was edged, 6-3, 6-2, this morning by Blake Strode of Arkansas in the qualifying rounds. Fellow teammate,Skrypko awaits play in the main draw on Thursday.

The Polo All-American Tennis Championships include five days of qualifying events that precede the October 5-8 main draw. A 128-player pre-qualifying tournament took place Sept. 30-Oct. 1. This feeds into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments Oct. 2-5, which then feeds into the 64-player, 32-doubles team main draws.