Aug. 27, 2007

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team will face another tough slate that includes matches against nationally-ranked opponents on the road as part of its 2007-08 schedule it was announced by Head Coach Paul Goebel, Monday. Memphis will face eight teams that capped last season in the FILA/ITA National Rankings, including No. 7 Ole Miss, No. 22 Tulsa and No. 26 Oklahoma, all on the road.

The Tigers will open the fall season with a split squad participating in two different tournaments. Half the team will travel to Virginia to compete in the Virginia Fall Classic, Sept. 14-16th. Host Virginia finished last season as the No. 2 ranked team in the country. The second half of the team will participate in the Middle Tennessee Fall Classic that same weekend in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Following those two tournaments, Memphis will find out who qualifies for the Southern Intercollegiate Classic, the ITA All-American and the ITA Regional. The Southern Intercollegiate will be hosted by the University of Georgia, Sept. 21-24th, while the qualifying and main rounds of the ITA All-American will take place between Sept. 29th and Oct. 6th. The ITA All-American is the first of four college `major' tournaments, which includes the ITA Regionals, the National Indoor Championships and the NCAA Championships. The ITA All-American will be played at the University of Tulsa, while the ITA Regional will be played Oct. 19-22nd at the University of Kentucky.

In the spring, the Tigers will open the dual season at the University of South Florida Invitational for a third straight season. That will be followed by a four-match home-stand that features matches against Austin Peay, UT Martin, Southeastern Louisiana and Rhodes College. The Tigers then take to the road for a Feb. 3rd match at No. 37 Vanderbilt, then return home to host Nichols State and Lipscomb on Feb.15th. This year's furthest spring trip will be a westward swing again, this time starting at No. 73 San Diego (Feb. 22nd) and No. 46 San Diego State (Feb. 24th) before returning to the Mid-South for a non-conference match at No. 7 Ole Miss, Feb. 27th.

Memphis will again travel to Oklahoma to face a pair of Big 12 members, when the Tigers play at No. 26 Oklahoma, Mar. 8th and at Oklahoma State, Mar. 9th.

The Tigers will then return home to host its conference opener against UAB, Mar. 21st, also hosting Southern Illinois (Mar. 22nd) before resuming C-USA competition at No. 22 Tulsa (Mar. 27th) and at No. 50 SMU (Mar. 29th). Memphis will host Murray State (Apr. 4th), before rounding out regular season league competition at Southern Miss, Apr. 5th. A non-conference match at UALR (Apr. 9th) and a home match against No. 49 Middle Tennessee (Apr. 12th) will round out the regular season slate for the Tigers.

The Conference USA Championships will be played Apr. 18-20th and will be hosted by SMU. The NCAA Regional weekend will be May 12-13th, while the NCAA Championships will be played May 19-28th at the University of Tulsa.

Memphis returns five letterwinners from the 2006-07 season, including 2006-07 C-USA Newcomer of the Year and second team all-conference honoree Amrit Narasimhan. Narasimhan, who played No. 1 singles during the latter half of the season, is also joined by fellow senior Jimmy Khougassian, junior Benedikt Fischer, and sophomores Spencer Heflin and Charlie Ramsay. The returnees will be joined by two newcomers, Michael Gaerthoeffner from Germany and Jorge Vazquez from Spain. Vazquez was a teammate of Fischer and Narasimhan's at Tyler Junior College in Texas.