Sept. 23, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Memphis men's tennis team went 2-3 in the opening round of the UVA Fall Invitational Friday morning. Second round play has been suspended at 3:50 p.m. (ET) due to lightning.

Senior James Spence fell in his opening round, falling to 0-3 on the season with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Old Dominion's Eidy Igarashi, but that would be the Tigers' lone loss in A Singles, as freshman Matt Brewer and junior Michael Jetter both won their opening matches. Brewer downed Virginia's Jarrett Chirico, 7-5, 6-2, while Jetter defeated Harvard's Chris Clayton, 6-3, 6-2. Brewer will now face his first seeded player of the tournament when he plays Western Michigan's Jose Orozco, a 9-16 seed, while Jetter will face No. 3 seed Somdev Devvarman, from Virginia.

In B singles, Alex Jago found out that he will face North Carolina State's Will Shaw, who defeated Andrew Felsenthal, brother of former Tiger Scott Felsenthal, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1. The two other Tiger matches in that bracket were both losses, as Garrison Pilant fell to William & Mary's Kavi Sud, 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, while Bryan Bankester fell 6-4, 6-3 to Virginia's Andrew Downing. Both Pilant and Bankester will move into the consolation draws once play resumes after the weather passes.