Feb. 20, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - - The University of Memphis men's tennis team (5-2) will take its show on the road and will face a pair of nationally-ranked opponents on their respective home courts this weekend. Memphis will open the weekend at No. 74 San Diego (3-4), Friday, at 1:30 p.m. (PT).

San Diego has won two of their last three matches, including a 5-2 win over UNLV and a 4-3 win over Cal Poly. Their one loss in that stretch was a4 4-3 loss to UC Irvine.

The Toreros bring a young, international line-up in to the Friday afternoon contest. Freshman Dean Jackson (Soest, Germany) has played at No. 1 singles and is currently the No. 63 ranked singles player in the country, while the lone senior on the squad, Thomas Liversage (Johannesburg, South Africa), heads into this weekend as the No. 29 ranked player in the country, while playing No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles. Liversage teams with junior Chris Coetzee (Durban, South Africa). The young line-up includes a total of five freshmen, but they have gotten a lot of strong experience so far this season, playing No. 6 USC, No. 8 UCLA, NO. 22 Pepperdine, No. 31 Texas Tech, No,. 60 UC Irvine and No. 75 Fresno State already this season.

Following the San Diego match on Friday, the Tigers will remain in town for a Sunday contest against No. 47 San Diego State (2-3), beginning at noon (PT). The Aztecs are 1-2 in their last three matches, sandwiching a win over Minnesota between a pair of losses at Arizona State and at Arizona.

Junior Bartosz Golas (Munich, Germany) and sophomore Achim Ceban (Moscow, Russia) have both played matches at No. 1 singles so far this season, with Golas sporting a 2-1 record. Danny Heidecker (Wesel, Germany) has played the most matches at No. 2 singles on the season, but four different Aztecs have played at No. 2, with sophomore Matan Shitrit (Tel Aviv, Israel) claiming the lone win at that slot. The Aztecs have some depth on the bottom of their line-up, partially because there are 10 team members on the roster. Shitrit is 2-1 at No. 4 singles, while sophomore Juan Gomez (Guayaquil, Ecuador) is 1-1 at the fourth singles slot.

With so many players on the roster, it comes as no surprise that the Aztecs have used a variety of doubles tandems through the first five dual matches of the spring. Three different tandems have played No. 1 doubles, with all three owning at least one singles win so far this spring. Likewise, there have been four different No. 2 tandems, but the tandems all combine for a a 2-3 record so far this spring. The Aztecs are also 2-3 at No. 3 doubles, having used five different combinations thus far in the spring.

The Tigers are looking to earn a first road win of the spring. Memphis is 5-1 at home so far this year, and dropped their only road contest of the dual season, 6-1, at No. 33 Vanderbilt.

Senior Amrit Narasimhan is 5-2 at No. 1 singles heading into this weekend's matches, and is 1-2 against ranked opponents so far this season. A pair of German freshmen have played the matches at No. 2 for the Tigers so far, with Michael Gaerthoeffner sporting a 2-2 record, while Leon Nasemann is 3-0. Nasemann, who is also 3-1 at No. 3 singles after joining Memphis in January of 2008, moved up in the last two matches to the No. 2 singles spot with the return of senior Jimmy Khougassian to the line-up last weekend. Khougassian is 2-0 at the No. 3 singles spot. Three different Tigers have played at No. 4 so far this spring. Gaerthoeffner leads the crew with a 3-0 mark, while freshman Jordan Smith, another January addition to the roster, is 2-1. Sophomore Spencer Heflin played his only dual singles match of the spring at No. 4, falling in that match.

Sophomore Charlie Ramsay is 4-2 at the No. 5 singles spot, but senior Benedikt Fischer is also sporting a winning record at No. 5, with a 1-0 mark. Fischer is also 5-1 at No. 6 singles, while Ramsay is 1-0 at the sixth singles spot.

In doubles, the tandem of Narasimhan and Ramsay are 6-1 at the No. 1 spot, and are carrying a three-match win streak in to the weekend's matches. The tandem of Jimmy Khougassian and Leon Nasemann bring a two-match streak with them after winning their first two matches together of the year last weekend. Nasemann also holds the team's longest singles winning streak, now at four matches.

With the ATP's Regions/Morgan Keegan and the WTA's Cellular South Cup occupying The Racquet Club of Memphis for the next two weeks, the Tigers will remain on the road, playing at No. 5 Ole Miss, Wednesday.

Memphis' next home match will be Mar. 21st against C-USA foe, UAB.