Jan. 20, 2005

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis program will officially open the Paul Goebel era with a match across cross-town foe Rhodes, at 5 p.m, Saturday. The match will be played at the University Club of Memphis (1346 Central Avenue). Warm-ups will begin at 4:30 p.m. and doubles play will begin as soon as the players are through their warm-ups.

This game will be Memphis' lone appearance at home until a Feb. 11th match against Tennessee Tech. In between Saturday's match and the Tennessee Tech match, Memphis will face No. 20 Vanderbilt, No. 25 Tennessee and No. 60 Tulsa, all on the road. Memphis will also face Oral Roberts and Oklahoma State on the road before its next home match.

The Tigers are guided by a five-member senior class. Senior Alex Bucewicz is the lone four-year Tiger and has led Memphis in wins in each of his three seasons in Memphis. Bucewicz capped his junior year with a 14-9 record at No. 3 singles, and was 5-2 during the fall season to begin his senior year, upending No. 117th-ranked Boris Kuharic in the Arkansas tournament earlier this fall, 4-6, 6-2, 10-4.

Seniors Mark Finnegan and Marten Tamla. Tamla finished last season 12-9, playing a majority of his matches at No. 4 singles. Tamla clinched the win over USF in the C-USA Quarterfinals with a 7-6, 6-3 win, but is battling injury. Finnegan battled injury last season, finishing the spring with a 9-6 record playing No. 5 or No. 6 singles. Finnegan opened his fall schedule with six straight wins, claiming a singles title at the Middle Tennessee State tournament to begin the fall, before suffering his first loss of the season at the Arkansas tournament.

Scott Felsenthal opted to transfer back to his hometown of Memphis to complete his collegiate career after spending the past four years at the University of Washington. Felsenthal was 5-4 in singles this fall and teamed with James Spence at No. 1 doubles at the ITA Southeast Regional, where the duo knocked off a seeded team from Ole Miss, before falling to the No. 16 ranked doubles team in the country, 8-4.

Andrew Olswing rounds out the Tiger senior class. A two-year letterwinner so far at Memphis, Olswing was 2-2 in singles during the fall and 0-2 in doubles when teamed with junior Alex Jago.