Sept. 15, 2006

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A pair of Tiger freshmen picked up their first career singles victories in the first round of the University of Virginia Fall Classic, Friday. Chattanooga native Charlie Ramsay (McCallie HS) and Memphis native Spencer Heflin (MUS) each downed first round opponents , while sophomore Vinicius Craveiro used a 7-6 win in the second set to advance to the second round as well in opening day singles.

Ramsay, the No. 4 seed in the Black Singles bracket, defeated Western Michigan's RK Bacalla, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to a second round match against Elliott Daniels of George Washington, while Heflin split his opening two sets, 6-3, 4-6, then stormed back to win the third set 6-1 over Charlotte's Brad Clinard in the opening round of the White Singles draw. Heflin will face No. 2 seed Michael Hayes of Harvard in the second round after Hayes received a first round bye.

Craveiro is also playing in the white singles draw, and used a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Louisville's Ben Clos to advance to a second round contest against No. 3 seed Bryan Norville of Western Michigan, who is coming off a first round bye.

The remainder of the Tiger roster was not as fortunate, as the other five entries in singles all fell to seeded opponents. Amrit Narasimhan fell 6-4, 6-4 in the Red Singles draw to No. 4 seed William Noblitt of NC State. Fellow newcomer Cody Loup fell, 6-4, 6-4 to No. 3 seed Cory Parr of Wake Forest in the Green Singles draw. Also in the Green Singles draw, Benedikt Fischer fell 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to No. 1 seed Jonathan Boym of Penn.

In the Yellow Singles draw, sophomore Tezar Putra fell 7-5, 6-3 to No. 4 seed Robert Rotaru of Louisville, while Jimmy Khougassian fell 6-4, 6-3 to No. 3 seed Dominic Pagon of William & Mary.

Narasimhan will face Harvard's Dan Nguyen in his first consolation draw match, while Loup will face Duke's Aaron Carpenter in the back draw. Fischer will pay James McGee of N.C. State in his consolation singles match. In the yellow draw, Putra will face Sam Salyer of George Washington, while Khougassian is slated to face Radford's Zack Watson, however Watson was forced to retire from his first round match, down 6-4, 6-5 on Friday.

Doubles results from Friday will not be available until Saturday morning. To follow all the play in the tournament, you can visit: http://virginiasports.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/stats/2006-2007/results.html

Red Singles -
First Round: No. 4 William Noblitt (NC State) def. Amrit Narasimhan (Memphis), 6-4, 6-4

Green Singles -
First Round: No. 3 Cory Parr (Wake Forest) def. Cody Loup (Memphis), 6-4, 6-4
First Round: No. 1 Jonathan Boym (Penn) def. Benedikt Fischer (Memphis), 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

Yellow Singles -
No. 4 seed Robert Rotaru (Louisville) def. Tezar Putra (Memphis), 7-5, 6-3
No. 3 seed Dominic Pagon (William & Mary) def. Jimmy Khougassian (Memphis), 6-4, 6-3

Black Singles --
First Round: No. 4 seed Charlie Ramsay (Memphis) def. RK Bacalla (Western Michigan), 6-1, 6-2

White Singles -
Vinicius Craveiro (Memphis) def. Ben Clos (Louisville), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Spencer Heflin (Memphis) def. Brad Clinard (Charlotte), 6-3, 4-6, 6-1