Jan. 27, 2009

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team will host three matches over the course of three days this week at the Wellworx Sporting Club in East Memphis. Memphis (1-1) will open the week with a match against Morehead State (1-0) on Jan. 29, at 2 p.m.

"We are looking forward to having three home matches against three quality opponents this week," said U of M Head Coach Paul Goebel. "This will be a good chance for us to see how our team has progressed since the last match."

Memphis started the season on Jan 16, with a loss to conference-rival Rice, 6-1. Rice is currently ranked 24th in the nation. The U of M bounced back that night to pick up a win over Prairie View A&M, 6-0, sweeping all of their doubles and singles opponents.

The Tigers line-up is highlighted by senior Jorge Vazquez at the No. 1 singles position. Vazquez, a native of La Coruna, Spain, is 3-1 this season with wins over two players rated among the top-30 singles competitors in the country. He upended No. 23 Roy Kalmanovich of Illinois, 6-4, 7-5, at the USF Winter Invitational. Vazquez followed up his defeat of Kalmanovich nearly a week later by taking down Rice's Bruno Rosa, the nation's 26th-ranked singles player, 6-4, 7-6. Rosa has been ranked as high as No. 14 last spring. Vazquez was named the C-USA Player of the Week on Jan. 19, following his early season success.

Morehead State enters Thursday's match with a 1-0 record after picking up a 7-0 win over the University of the Cumberlands on Jan. 26. The meeting between the two universities will mark the first in recent history. Head Coach Kevin Fulton's Morehead State squad is coming off of an 8-12 season in 2008. The Eagles return five letterwinners from the 2007-08 squad including juniors Greg Anderson and Dusan Milovanovic.

In the second match of the week for the Tigers, Paul Goebel's squad will face-off with the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at 12 p.m., on Jan. 30 at Wellworx. Memphis will look to avenge a 4-3 defeat to Southeastern Louisiana in 2008. The U of M swept the Lions in doubles, but fell at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 5 singles positions. Southeastern Louisiana is looking to replace their top-4 singles players. Friday's match will be the first of the season for Lions. They will be led by Julien Roussel, a sophomore, who led Southeastern Louisiana in singles victories last season with 19.

On Saturday, Memphis will take on the Murray State Racers at 3 p.m., at Wellworx. Murray State and Memphis last faced each other in April of 2007. The result was a 7-0 sweep for the Tigers over the Racers. Murray State (0-2) is led by Ben Clos, a transfer from Louisville. Clos went 8-6 during his sophomore year at Louisville. So far this season he has been competing at the No. 1 spot for the Racers. Renaldo Domoney, a sophomore from Cape Town, South Africa, has been holding down the No. 2 singles spot for Coach Mel Purcell's team. Domoney transferred to Murray State from Portland, where he went 2-4 while competing at the No. 6 slot.