March 11, 2003

RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team, ranked No. 53 in the country, evened its overall record at 5-5 with a 6-1 victory over the University of Richmond.

The Tigers had their hands full early as the Spiders were coming off a 15-day break while Memphis was playing its third straight road match in three days. But the Tigers hung on to sweep the three doubles matches, as the No. 1 team of Ben Stapp and Lee Taylor Walker snapped a three-match losing streak to pick up a win at No. 1 doubles, 8-6. The duo of Joe Schmulian and Alex Bucewicz hung on for a 9-7 win at No. 2 while the freshmen Aussie duo of Alex Jago and Brendan Malarkey won their No. 3 match, 8-3.

In singles play, Memphis won five of the six matches. Sophomore Alex Bucewicz extended his singles winning streak to eight matches, despite falling 7-5 in the second set. Bucewicz was named the Conference USA men's player of the week, Tuesday.

Memphis will get a much-needed day of rest, Wednesday, before facing nationally-ranked Virginia Tech, Thursday. It will be the third nationally-ranked road opponent in five days for the Tigers. Memphis will finish its spring break road trip with a neutral site match against Cornell at Virginia Tech, Friday.

No. 53 Memphis 6, University of Richmond 1
Doubles:

1) Stapp/Walker (UM) def. Donn/Cabana, 8-6
2) Schmulian/Bucewicz (UM) def. Schwandt/Doll, 9-7
3) Malarkey/Jago (UM) def. Moss/Scrafford, 8-3

Singles:
#1 Ben Stapp (UM) def. David Donn (UR), 6-3, 6-3
#2 Niki Doll (UR) def. Joe Schmulian (UM), 7-5, 6-4
#3 Lee Walker (UM) def. Matt Cabana (UR), 6-1, 7-6
#4 Alex Bucewicz (UM) def. Derek Schwandt (UR), 6-4, 5-7, 1-0
#5 Brendan Malarkey (UM) def. Dan Scrafford (UR), 6-1, 7-5
#6 Alex Jago (UM) def. Jeppy Moss (UR), 1-6, 6-2, 6-3