March 18, 2005

The University of Memphis men's tennis team picked up its first win over a top 40 program with a 4-3 win over No. 32 South Alabama in Mobile, Friday.

"This was a really great team effort and a good win for us," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "We're really looking forward to another good match against Southern Mississippi tomorrow."

The Tigers, now 7-9 on the season, now have two wins over ranked programs this season (the other was a 4-0 win over then-No. 75 DePaul). Memphis got an 8-2 win from the duo of Mark Finnegan and Alex Jago at No. 3 to get the points rolling, but the Jaguars answered back with an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles to make the No. 2 match the deciding factor for the doubles point. The senior tandem of Marten Tamla and Alex Bucewicz answered with a 9-7 Tiger victory to put Memphis up 1-0 heading into the singles.

Memphis picked up wins from seniors Scott Felsenthal and Mark Finnegan at the 5 and 6 singles spot and James Spence added a win at No. 2 to secure the 4-3 victory.

Memphis 4, #32 South Alabama 3

DOUBLES
1. No. 31 Jacobs/Doskarayev (USA) def. Felsenthal/Spence (UM) 8-5
2. Tamla/Bucewicz (UM) def. Babej/Kepka (USA) 9-7
3. Finnegan/Jago (UM) def. Espiritp-Santo/Huffman (USA) 8-2

SINGLES
1. No. 45 Franticek Babej (USA) def. No. 86 Alex Bucewicz (UM) 6-4,6-2
2. James Spence (UM) def. Clinton Jacobs (USA) 6-3,6-1
3. Dias Doskareyev (USA) def. Marten Tamla (UM) 6-3,6-2
4. David Kepka (USA) def. Alex Jago (UM) 3-6,6-3,6-1
5. Scott Felsenthal (UM) def. Tiago Espirito-Santo (USA) 6-4,7-6
6. Mark Finnegan (UM) def. Mark Gellard (USA) 6-2,6-1