ORLANDO, Fla. - Murkel Dellien faces Mississippi State's Giovanni Oradini in the first-round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Singles Championships on Sunday at 9:00 a.m., CT, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
 
Dellien has been on a roll, having won 13 straight singles matches. He is ranked No. 39 in the latest ITA rankings with a 14-2 record. Seven of his wins have come at the top spot and five of them were versus ranked opponents, including No. 4 Gabriel Decamps of UCF and No. 29 Hamish Stewart of Tulane. Most recently, Dellien defeated Arizona State's No. 84 Nathan Ponwith, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round of the NCAA Team Championships. Dellien is a perfect 6-0 against ranked competition.
 
Oradini enters the dual ranked No. 20 with a 11-10 record, mostly at No. 1 for the Bulldogs. He has failed to play consistent tennis throughout the season, but he has several ranked wins. In the SEC Championships, he knocked of Florida's No. 3 Duarte Vail, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and followed that performance with a loss to Miami's No. 42 Adria Soriano Barrera, 7-6(4), 7-5, in the NCAA Team Championships. Oradini also has knocked off then No. 24 Adam Walton and No. 36 Tyler Stice.
 
Dellien is the first Shocker to earn a bid to the singles championships since Tin Ostojic in 2016. Dellien will become the first to compete in the competition since 2015, as Ostojic was injured for the 2016 tournament, but played in the 2015 event.
 
The winner of the match will move on to face the winner of the Luc Fomba/Nikola Slavic dual on May 24th at a TBD time.
 
Fans can watch Dellien compete by downloading the TennisOne app and creating a free account. Live stats will also be available here.