OC men 3rd in preseason NAIA tennis poll, women 4th

Martin Poboril (left) and Bruno Tiberti are two big reasons Oklahoma Christian is ranked No. 3 in the NAIA preseason men’s tennis coaches’ poll. OC’s women are ranked No. 4 in their preseason poll.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Jan. 31, 2012) – Oklahoma Christian’s tennis teams will start the season considered among the elite in the NAIA.

The NAIA released its preseason men’s and women’s coaches’ polls Tuesday, with the Eagles ranked No. 3 and the Lady Eagles No. 4. OC’s men finished 23-2 last season, reaching the national semifinals, while the OC women went 20-4 and fell in the quarterfinals of the NAIA tournament.

In the men’s poll, OC trails defending NAIA champion Fresno Pacific (Calif.) – the team that beat OC 5-2 in last year’s semifinals – and another perennial power, Embry-Riddle (Fla.).  After OC, Auburn-Montgomery (Ala.) and Azusa Pacific (Calif.) are tied for fourth.

Defending women’s champion Auburn-Montgomery tops the women’s poll, followed by Fresno Pacific, Embry-Riddle and OC. Concordia (Calif.) rounds out the top five.

Both OC’s women and men men – coached by OC Athletic Hall of Famer Kris Miller – will play at Embry-Riddle on March 21.

The Eagles will return four players, each an All-American, from last year’s squad. Two OC players – Martin Poboril and Bruno Tiberti – were named to the NAIA All-America first-team list, with Renardy Guelfi making the second-team list and Pier Pieracciani receiving honorable mention. OC also picked up a transfer from Fresno Pacific, Jaime Sanchez-Canamares, who played at No. 6 singles last year for the Sunbirds.

Tiberti and Poboril are No. 2 and No. 10, respectively, in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s NAIA singles rankings. Tiberti was a finalist in the NAIA bracket in the ITA Small College Championships during the fall.

The Lady Eagles have all six starters returning, including sophomore Hermon Brhane, who was the runner-up in the NAIA singles bracket in the ITA Small College Championships. Brhane and OC’s No. 2 singles player, Lucie Sipkova, teamed to win the NAIA women’s doubles bracket at the ITA event and advanced to the final of the “Super Bowl” bracket, which pitted the champions of the NAIA, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and junior-college brackets.

Brhane is ranked No. 2 in the ITA’s NAIA singles rankings entering the spring while Sipkova – who lost to Brhane in the ITA Southwest Regional singles final – is No. 11. The duo sits atop the NAIA doubles rankings.

Both made last season’s NAIA All-America first-team list, while returning junior Andreea Constantinescu made the second-team list.

EAGLE EYE BLOG

Chuck White’s final home game

This video features scenes from Chuck White’s final home game as OC’s head baseball coach. Coach White was the driving force in the revival of the baseball program and the construction of Dobson Field and the Bobby Murcer Indoor Training Facility.

OC Softball vs. Oklahoma Baptist—April 28, 2012

OC Baseball vs. Mid-America Christian—April 26, 2012