March 6, 2010

DALLAS, Texas - The University of Memphis men's tennis team fell to the SMU Mustangs on Fri., March 5 at the Turpin Tennis Center in Dallas, Texas. The Tigers won one singles match and one doubles match, but were also able to force three sets in three singles battles and lost a second doubles match on a tiebreaker. With the loss, Memphis falls to 5-7 on the year.

In doubles, the No. 2 pair of Michael Hayes and Spencer Heflin to pick up a win in their first match as a duo on Friday. The Tiger netters upended Tobias Flood and Pablo Perez-Esnaola, 8-3.

At No. 1 doubles, Jordan Smith and David Henry forced a tiebreaker with 37th-rated SMU pair, Adham el-Effendi and Darren Walsh. The SMU pair won the tiebreaker 8-6 to take the match, 9-8. With the loss, Smith and Henry fall to 8-3 on the season. The pair currently leads the Tigers in doubles victories.

At the No. 3 spot, SMU's Chris Hooshyar and Artem Baradach upended John Taylor and Michael Janz, 8-3. Taylor and Janz fall to 3-1 in doubles during the 2010 spring season.

In singles, Hayes, a senior from London, England, improved his record to 3-5 with a three-set victory over Bryan Griffin, 3-6, 6-1, 1-0, at the No. 4 spot.

The Tigers also forced three sets at No. 3 singles and No. 6 singles. At the No. 3 spot, Jordan Smith picked up a first set win, 6-2, but fell to Perez-Esnaola in the final two sets, 6-3, 6-0, to lose the match. Smith's singles record is 2-3 during the 2010 season.

At the No. 6 slot, Michael Gaerthoeffner, a junior from Rheine, Germany, lost the first set, 6-3, but bounced back to split sets, taking the second frame, 6-4, over SMU's Hooshyar. The Mustang netter took the third-set tiebreaker, 11-9, to win the match. Gaerthoeffner has a 7-5 record on the year. The junior leads the U of M in singles victories.

At No. 2 singles, Henry, a sophomore from Signal Mountain, Tenn., fell in straight sets to David Costa, 6-4, 6-2.

At the No. 1 spot, Charlie Ramsay, a senior from Chattanooga, Tenn., dropped to 5-6 on the year, losing to 99th-rated Baradach of SMU, 6-2, 6-0.

At the No. 5 spot, SMU's Walsh defeated Janz, 7-5, 6-4.

Memphis will return to action on Mon., March 8, when they face Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 10 a.m., in Little Rock, Ark.