March 4, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis men's tennis team will head to Dallas, Texas to face the SMU Mustangs on Fri., March 5 at 2 p.m., at the Turpin Tennis Center. The Tigers enter the weekend with a 5-6 overall record on the season. SMU comes into Friday's match with a 6-6 overall mark.

"It will be a good test for our team to see where we are against another conference team on Friday," said Memphis head coach Paul Goebel. "SMU has a very solid program and hopefully we can have a good showing against them."

The Tigers are coming off a 6-1 loss to No. 11 Ole Miss on Wednesday in Oxford, Miss. Despite the loss, the Tigers doubles pairs again thrived, almost taking the doubles point from the Rebels. Had the Tigers won the doubles point it would have been the third time this season they would have won the doubles point against a top 70 opponent. Memphis won doubles against No. 24 Tulsa and No. 67 Oklahoma State on the opening weekend of the 2010 season.

David Henry and Jordan Smith continue to lead the Tigers' double attack. The Memphis pair comes into the weekend with an 8-3 record. Two of the duo's losses this season came to ranked opponents. Smith and Henry lost to 12th-ranked Aleksey Bessonov and Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State, 9-8, and 36th-rated Phillip Stephens and Ashley Watling of Tulsa, 8-7.

In singles, Michael Gaerthoeffner comes into the weekend with a team-leading seven wins. The junior from Rheine, Germany, picked up the lone singles win for the Tigers against the Rebels of Ole Miss, defeating Harry Fowler in three sets, 0-6, 6-3, 10-8.

SMU's single attack is led by Artem Baradach at the top of the lineup. The junior from Minsk, Belarus, has a 5-2 singles record heading into Friday's dual.

In doubles, the Mustangs are led by 37th-rated pair Adham el-Effendi and Darren Walsh. The duo comes into the weekend with a 6-3 overall record, including two wins over top 25 foes. El-Effendi and Walsh have wins over 15th-rated Maros Horny and Jordan Rux of Baylor and 22nd-ranked Christoffer Konigsfeldt and Nick Andrews of California.