Feb. 4, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis men's tennis team will travel to Iowa this weekend to face No. 58 Iowa and Drake. The Tigers come into the weekend's matches with a 1-2 record after picking up a victory last Friday over the Kennesaw State Owls. The U of M opened the season with two hard-fought losses to No. 24 Oklahoma State and No. 35 Tulsa. The Tigers won both doubles points against Oklahoma State and Tulsa. Memphis' doubles pairs come into this weekend with a combined record of 7-2, with the two losses being won by the opposing teams on tiebreakers.

"We are excited to be playing two tough opponents in Iowa and Drake," said Memphis head coach Paul Goebel. "Hopefully we continue to build on our early season success and are able to play two competitive matches."

The Tigers will face the Hawkeyes of Iowa at 2 p.m. (CST) on Fri., Feb. 5 at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes come into Friday's dual with a record of 1-1 after splitting with No. 6 Baylor, 0-7 and No. 66 Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, 4-2, last weekend. Memphis' doubles duos of Leon Nasemann and John Taylor, along with seniors Spencer Heflin and Charlie Ramsay, come into the weekend with an unblemished 3-0 doubles record. Both pairs have picked up victories over pairs from No. 24 Oklahoma State, No. 35 Tulsa and Kennesaw State. The No. 1 duo of Jordan Smith and David Henry opened the season with a perfect record in the opening-season tournament at USF, but came up just short of beating Oklahoma State's 15th-ranked duo at No. 1 doubles and Tulsa's No. 1 pair. Smith and Henry picked up their first win of the dual season last Friday against Kennesaw State.

In singles, Memphis is led by Leon Nasemann at the No. 1 position. The junior from Wuppertahl, Germany, has picked up victories over Tulsa's No. 1 singles player and Kennesaw State. His only loss is to Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State, currently ranked No. 15 in the nation. Nedovyesov has been ranked as high as No. 1 in his singles career.

Iowa is led by Baylor transfer Marc Bruche at the No. 1 position. Bruche, a sophomore from Hoelsbrunn, Germany, went 4-3 last season with the Bears. In doubles, Bruche and Nikita Zotov, a junior from Moscow, Russia. Zotov teamed with Christian Bierich last season to go 9-8 in doubles. The pair was ranked as high as No. 31 nationally in the spring of 2009.

On Sun., Feb. 7, the U of M will face-off with the Drake Bulldogs at 1 p.m. (CST) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The Bulldogs' only action of the spring season came at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Individuals tournament in Des Moines. The Bulldogs had two players advance to singles titles. At No. 4 singles, Guilherme Marsiglia, a senior from Porto Alegre, Brazil defeated his opponent from Illinois State to capture the title. At No. 5 singles, freshman James McKie, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, upended his foe from Illinois State to win the championship.

The Bulldogs are led by Mauricio Ballivian at the No. 1 position. A native of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Ballivian went 16-8 at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots as a sophomore. In doubles, Ballivian and Cesar Bracho come into the match ranked as the 39th-best doubles pair in the nation.