April 21, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team will open play against ninth-seed Tulane at the 2010 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship on Thur., April 22 at 2 p.m., at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium on the campus of Rice.

"Tulane has a young and talented squad," said Memphis head coach Paul Goebel. "They have a really good coach (Mark Booras) that came to them from LSU and has done a really good job of building their program up. Most of the teams in C-USA are pretty evenly matched so we should have a lot of really competitive matches this week. The depth in this league has really improved over the last few years."

Memphis comes into the week with an overall mark of 10-11 on the season. The Tigers are led at the top of the lineup by Charlie Ramsay, a senior from Chattanooga, Tenn., and David Henry, a sophomore from Signal Mountain, Tenn. Ramsay is 10-9 on the season with an overall mark of 3-5 at the No. 1 spot. Henry enters Thursday's match with a 10-9 record. He is 4-4 at No. 2 singles and 6-3 at the No. 3 slot.

In doubles, the U of M have captured 13 of 21 doubles points this season. Memphis is led by the No. 1 tandem of Henry and Jordan Smith. The pair enters Thursday with a record of 14-4 on the season. Henry and Smith have wins over two opponents from ranked teams (Ole Miss and Iowa) on the season.

Joining Henry and Smith in the doubles lineup will be Spencer Heflin and Ramsay. The pair of seniors are 11-4 in 2010. Heflin and Ramsay picked up two wins over foes from ranked opponents Tulsa and Oklahoma State to commence the 2010 season.

Tulane enters the match with a 3-16 record. Coach Mark Booras' squad is in their first season competing in men's tennis since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 forced the program to go on hiatus. Shaye Wali, a sophomore from Toronto, Ontario, is 4-11 on the year at No. 1 singles. Joe Young, a freshman from Redlands, Calif. has a 5-9 mark at No. 2 singles.

In doubles, the pair of Wali and Young are 2-8 at the No. 1 doubles slot. Memphis and Tulane last met in the 2004 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championship. The Tigers lost the match, 4-0, to the Green Wave. They also face Tulane during the regular season in 2004 where they suffered a 4-1 defeat.

2004 was also the last time the Tigers were able to advance past the first round in the C-USA Men's Tennis Championship. They plaed three matches that year before losing to the Green Wave.

The winner of Thursday's match will advance to face No. 1-seed Tulsa on Friday at 8 a.m., at the Jake Hess Tennis Center. Tulsa has won the last four Men's Tennis Championships dating back to 2006. The last team to win a championship other than the Golden Hurricane was Tulane. The Green Wave won three straight championships from 2003-05. Tulsa enters the tournament boasting a No. 36 national ranking.