Aug. 12, 2004

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team will hold its annual fundraiser on the University of Memphis HPER courts, Aug. 28th, from 8:30 a.m. - noon. The fundraiser serves as the Tiger tennis team's primary source of funds for travel for the upcoming 2004-05 schedule, a schedule that features eight teams that participated in the 2004 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships and 11 matches against teams that finished the year in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings.

Tennis players wanting to participate in the Saturday morning events will have lunch provided and will have an opportunity to meet the 2005 men's team at the event. Tiger Head Coach Phil Chamberlain asks that those wishing to participate or donate to the Tigers' event please call him at 901-678-5309 or at 901-765-4404. Players are asked to register for the event by Aug. 25th.

The Tigers' 2005 schedule will again feature a prestigious fall tournament, as the ITA selected Memphis as the host site for the Southeast Regional for the second consecutive season. That tournament features the top collegiate players from the Southeast, and was won last year by Mississippi State's Romain Ambert in singles, while Georgia's Bo Hodge and John Isner won the doubles title.

Memphis will open its 2005 schedule at No. 16 Vanderbilt, Jan. 28th, and will follow that with another SEC road match at Tennessee (No. 21), Jan. 17th. The Tigers will then venture to Tulsa, where they will face Oral Roberts, No. 35 Oklahoma State and No. 57 Tulsa, a future C-USA foe. Memphis will play its only home match prior to March on Feb. 11th, when they host Tennessee Tech, an NCAA tournament participant. Other SEC road matches include Mississippi State (No. 29) and Ole Miss (No. 5), while the Tigers' round out the ranked road opponent portion of their schedule with matches at No. 23 Arizona, No. 31 Arizona State and No. 46 South Alabama before finishing the season with six straight home matches, featuring No. 62 Middle Tennessee and No. 71 UALR. The 2005 Conference USA Men's Tennis Championships will take place in Charlotte, N.C.

Memphis returns four seniors for the 2005 season - Alex Bucewicz, Mark Finnegan, Andrew Olswing and Marten Tamla. They are joined by juniors Alex Jago and James Spence and sophomore Sam Withell. The Tigers expect to add three newcomers for the upcoming season.