Oct. 17, 2008

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Memphis men's tennis team kicked off the ITA Southeast Regional in Lexington, Ky., going 2-2 in doubles competition. The Tigers will play singles matches this afternoon at the Boone Tennis Center and the Lexington Tennis Club.

Benedikt Fischer and Leon Nasemann defeated the Florida Gulf Coast duo of Edson Lima and Ervin Garibovic, 9-7. In the second round of competitiom, Fischer and Nasemann were defeated by Stetson's Filip Kricka and Maksim Levanovich. The Hatters finished the 2008 spring season ranked No. 61 in the country.

Charlie Ramsay and Jorge Vazquez upended Murray State's Luka Milicevic and Renaldo Domoney, 8-4. In the second round of doubles, Ramsay and Vazquez lost 9-8(2) to LSU's Sebastian Carlsson and Neal Skupski. LSU finished the season as the No. 18 ranked team at the end of the 2008 spring season.

Vazquez, a senior from La Coruna, Spain, will start things off in singles play this afternoon at 12:30 p.m. Vazquez will face Kentucky's Shane Collins in his first round match. Vazquez is coming off of an impressive showing at the D'Novo ITA All-American Tournament in Tulsa, Okla. He became the first U of M tennis player to win four matches at the tournament since Lee Taylor Walker did so in 2003.

Collins of Kentucky, was 7-6 in singles last season while playing mostly at the No. 5 position. Kentucky finished last season as the No. 40 ranked team in the country.

Nasemann, a native of Wuppertahl, Germany, faces Julien Gauthier of LSU at 2 p.m. Nasemann was 8-8 in dual matches in his first season in the Blue and Gray.

LSU's Gauthier was defeated by Memphis's Vazquez earlier this season at the ULL Invitational in Lafayette, La.

Fischer will face-off with David Simon from the University of Miami at 3:30 p.m. Fischer tied for the lead for Memphis in dual singles wins last season with a record of 12-8. Simon is currently rated as the No. 99 rated singles player in the nation.

Ramsay will take on LSU's Jonathan Tragardh at 3:30 p.m. Ramsay, a junior from Chattanooga, Tenn., went 7-10 in the spring of 2008.

Check back at gotigersgo.com for updates on the team's progress at the 2008 ITA Southeast Regional in Lexington, Ky.