Feb. 1, 2002

Knoxville, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team heads east this weekend for two matches in Knoxville. The Tigers will play East Tennessee State in Knoxville on Saturday night and also play fourth-ranked Tennessee Saturday morning. The Tennessee match will be at 8 a.m. and the East Tennessee match will be at 6 p.m. The Tennessee match will mark the Tigers second match in its first four against top-30 competition.

The Tigers opened the season last weekend in Nashville knocking off UT-Martin, 7-0, before losing to 30th-ranked Vanderbilt, 5-2. Memphis, which was ranked 74th in the pre-season poll of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, moved up to 72nd in this week's ranking.

Head coach Phil Chamberlain sends an experienced group of players to the court this weekend led by number one singles player Richard Magney. Two other seniors will also pace the Tigers - Michael LaHaie and Michael Chamberlain. Clemson transfer Lee Taylor Walker has been solid in the early season for Memphis as have Alex Bucewicz, Joe Schmulian and Ben Stapp.