April 6, 2004

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team (12-9, 2-3 C-USA) will compete its 2004 road season with a non-conference match at Arkansas-Little Rock, Thursday. UALR had spent the last four weeks in the national rankings before falling out of the rankings released Tuesday morning following a 4-3 loss to the University of New Orleans and a 5-2 loss to No. 27 Tulane.

For Memphis, senior Lee Taylor Walker made his first appearance back in the national singles rankings, earning a ranking of 109 after winning six of his last nine matches at No. 1 singles and improving to 12-9 for the dual season at the top singles spot. Walker will have his hands full in the UALR match, as he will face freshman Bastian Faisst, who is 17-4 at No. 1 singles and is coming off a pair of losses at No. 1 last weekend, including a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 loss to Tulane' s Michael Kogan, the 13th-ranked singles player in the country and the three-time defending C-USA Player of the Year.

Faisst's success as a freshman isn't limited just to No. 1 singles. The freshman is also teaming with sophomore Sebastian Falk for an 11-5 mark at No. 1 doubles. That duo is also coming off a pair of tough losses, including a 9-8 loss to Kogan and Daivd Goulet, the 35th ranked doubles team in the country.

The Trojans have players with winning records all throughout the remainder of the line-up. Both Falk and senior Alexei Poutchinets have winning marks at No. 2 singles, while Poutchinets leads a four-some of Trojans at No. 3 with a 6-4 mark. Sophomore David Baxendine is 9-2 at No. 4 singles, while senior Mithun Murali is 9-5 at No. 5 singles. The only position with a majority of the players at .500 is the No. 6 spot, where Nihal Advani (1-1), Jarrad Bunt (7-7) and Mark Edney (1-1) are all .500. The Trojans have also given up some points at No. 3 doubles, with the team of Bunt and Murali carrying a 4-9 record, but UALR has gotten enough wins at No. 1 and 2 to continually win the doubles point. The No. 2 team of Edney and Poutchinets is 11-6 on the season.

Memphis is coming off a much-needed week's break, with freshman Sam Withell and sophomores James Spence and Alex Jago all nursing injuries over the break. Spence is third on the team with an 11-5 mark at No. 2 singles, and is teaming with Walker at No. 1 doubles with a 13-3 mark. Junior Alex Bucewicz continues to lead the team in victories, with a 13-5 record at No. 3 singles, while Marten Tamla is looking to hit the 10-win mark, carrying a 9-6 record into the weekend. Junior Mark Finnegan has played six matches at No. 5 singles since returning from a shoulder injury, and the junior also has the best mark at No. 6 of any of the four Tigers' who have played there with a 5-2 record.

The Tigers will be looking to inch Head Coach Phil Chamberlain closer to the 100th-career win mark. Chamberlain, who has 98 career wins heading into the weekend, will also be prepping Memphis for the Conference USA Men's Tennis Championships, which Memphis will host, April 15-18th on the HPER Courts at the University of Memphis. Admission for the event is free and the first matches will begin Thurs., Apr. 15th at 10 a.m.