Feb. 15, 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - -

The University of Memphis men's tennis team (3-3) had its final two matches in a tiebreaker, but came up on the wrong end of both in a 4-2 loss at No. 40 Vanderbilt (6-3), Friday.

The Tigers went down early, losing the No. 1 and 3 doubles matches to trail 1-0 at the end of doubles play. The Tiger tandem of David O'Hare and Joe Salisbury were leading 7-6 in their match at No. 2 doubles, but with an 8-2 loss at No. 1 and an 8-5 loss at No. 3, they never got to finish their match.

Memphis quickly answered and evened the score at 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles from Connor Glennon. With five indoor courts available, Glennon's win meant that teammate David O'Leary could begin his match at No. 6 singles, something that almost figured into the match.

The Tigers briefly took the lead at 2-1 with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles from Lukas Vrnak, but Vandy quickly answered back with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles to even the match at 2-2.

The home team then took the lead at 3-2 with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 4 singles, shifting all eyes to the match at No. 1 singles where No. 22 ranked Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt was playing No. 73 ranked Joe Salisbury of Memphis.

Salisbury led the first set 5-3, but Lipman, who won the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Singles Championship at Memphis in the fall in his return to collegiate tennis after missing a year due to injury, mounted another comeback to win the first set 7-5. Lipman then had Salisbury on the ropes at 5-3 down in the second set before Salisbury mounted a comeback of his own, evening the set at 5-5, then going up 6-5.

While Salisbury and Lipman were fighting it out at No. 1, Tiger David O'Leary was quickly trying to catch up, and had pulled his match at No. 6 singles all the way into a tiebreak at 6-6. O'Leary came up short in that tiebreak, falling 7-6, and then Lipman closed out the other tiebreak, downing Salisbury, 7-6, in the second set.

The Tigers will have a long break before their next non-conference action. They will play at No. 12 Ole Miss, Tuesday, Feb. 26th in Oxford, at 1:30 p.m.