April 9, 2005

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The No. 73 University of Memphis men's tennis team (11-9, 3-1 C-USA) will host No. 23 Middle Tennessee (13-6) in non-conference action, Sunday, beginning at noon, on the University of Memphis Varsity Courts located on the corner of Echles and Spottswood. Admission to Tiger tennis matches is free. Fans are invited to join the Tigers at Sunday's match, where some Tiger tennis merchandise will be given away to those in attendance.

Memphis carries a five-match winning streak into Sunday's match, following a 4-1 win over Southeastern Louisiana and a 6-0 win over Murray State, Thursday. In that two-match day, junior James Spence picked up a pair of wins at No. 1 singles, while senior Alex Bucewicz, the No. 101 ranked singles player in the country, also added a pair of singles victories at the No. 2 spot. Senior Marten Tamla rounded out the two-wins in a day trio with a pair of wins at No. 3 singles.

The match will be tough from the start, as the Blue Raiders feature two doubles teams that were each nationally ranked until this last weekend. The duo of Andreas Siljestrom and Marco Born are the 14th ranked team in the country, while the team of Brandon Allan and Kai Schledorn responded to falling out of the national rankings with an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles over the No. 26 ranked team of Scott Brown and Jason Pinsky from Vanderbilt in a non-conference match on Wednesday. The Blue Raiders will face UALR, Saturday, before traveling to Memphis for Sunday's match.

The match-up with the Blue Raiders will be a special one for Tiger head coach Paul Goebel, as Goebel graduated from the program in 1995. A four-year all-conference honoree for the Blue Raiders, Goebel was 99-59 in singles and 96-42 in doubles. He was an All-American in 1994 and spent one season as a student assistant coach at MTSU before spending four years as a Tiger assistant coach to Phil Chamberlain.