Sept. 24, 2007

ATHENS, Ga. - Heading into the doubles tournament at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, senior Amrit Narasimhan and sophomore Charlie Ramsay had never played doubles together. The duo quickly made some history in their first-ever pairing by winning five straight matches to claim the Division I doubles title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships (SIC), Monday.

The SIC tournament is the top outdoor tennis tournament in the southeastern United States, featuring teams from the SEC and ACC, as well as nationally- and regionally-ranked singles and doubles competitors from various Southeastern-based universities.

On Monday, the Tiger duo defeated Middle Tennessee's Chris Nowak and John Peers, 8-6, in the second semifinal, then defeated Tennessee's Davey Sandgren and J.P. Smith, 8-6, in the finals to capture the program's first-ever title at the prestigious Intercollegiate Championships.

"We played some great teams from SEC and ACC schools and it just shows it wasn't a fluke, we played solid the whole week," Ramsay said. "Winning the Intercollegiates is a big one for me."

Memphis has never won any title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, and in its previous best, had a quarterfinalist in singles at the ITA Southeast Championships.

"This is a huge step in what we plan to achieve for our program," Narasimhan said. "It's a small step in the big picture for us guys. This is a huge motivation for us and gives us great momentum for the program and where we see it going."

Ramsay brought a cheering section to the tournament, with his parents traveling down from Chattanooga, Tenn., while his grandparents, who live in the Athens area, were also able to see the McCallie High School product win his first-ever tournament when paired with Narasimhan.

Next up for Narasimhan will be the ITA All-American Championships, which begin Monday in Tulsa. Narasimhan, the No. 98 ranked singles player in the country, is in the Qualifying Draw of the singles tournament.

Ramsay and the rest of the team will have a break in competition in order to begin preparation for the North Florida tournament, Oct. 12-14th.

Division I Singles
Round of 32 -- Narasimhan/Ramsay (Memphis) def. No. 2 seeded Arnould/Michael (Duke), 8-6
Round of 16 -- Narasimhan/Ramsay (Memphis) def. No. 12 seeded Paulido/Preston (Vanderbilt), 8-5
Quarterfinals -- Narasimhan/Ramsay (Memphis) def. Dean/Peek (Charleston Southern), 9-7
Semifinals -- Narasimhan/Ramsay (Memphis) def. Nowak/Peers (Middle Tennessee), 8-6
Finals -- Narasimhan/Ramsay (Memphis) def. No. 11 seeded Sandgren/Smith (Tennessee), 8-5