Oct. 13, 2006

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team will be back in action against some of the top teams in college tennis, beginning at 9 a.m., Friday. The Tigers are one of five Division I teams participating in the tournament, the other four of which were nationally-ranked at the end of last season.

Memphis will open its schedule against Vanderbilt, at 9:30 a.m., Friday morning. Vanderbilt capped last season as the No. 71 ranked team in the country and the two teams will open the tournament with singles play. Memphis will then wrap up its Friday schedule with singles matches against East Tennessee at 3:30 p.m. ETSU, a team the Tigers have seen in action already this season at the Middle Tennessee Fall Invitational, capped last season the No. 68 ranked team in the country last season.

On Saturday, Memphis will play singles against the host Volunteers, who were the No. 50 team in the country at the end of last season. The Tigers' first doubles matches will be played against Vanderbilt at approximately 5:00 p.m., followed by a second doubles slates against East Tennessee at approximately 6:00 p.m.

Memphis will wrap up its schedule with a Sunday morning singles slates against Middle Tennessee at 9:00 a.m. before hitting I-40 for the drive west back home. Middle Tennessee was the country's No. 33 ranked team last season.

The hidden dual format of the tournament means that the Tigers will be lined up in singles slots, similar to a dual match, but there is no team score. With eight healthy players for the trip, two Tigers may be lined up in other team's singles line-ups to complete the roster for a team that does not have six available players.

This will be the final guaranteed weekend that the entire roster of healthy Tigers will compete. If selected, Memphis may have singles players and maybe a doubles team eligible to compete in the ITA Southeast Regional, Oct. 20-23rd. The tournament is being hosted this year by the University of Kentucky, after being hosted by the Tigers the past three years. The remainder of the roster may opt to compete in a USTA tournament in freshman Cody Loup's hometown of Baton Rouge, La., the weekend of Oct.