April 11, 2008

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - - Freshman Michael Gaerthoeffner charged the net, forcing his singles opponent at No. 3 to push a backhand into the net for the deciding point in a 6-1 Memphis (8-12) win over No. 68 Middle Tennessee Friday afternoon in non-conference action at Rhodes College. The victory marks the Tigers' first win over Middle Tennessee since Mar. 23, 2003.

The win at No. 3 marked a come-from-behind victory for the German freshman, who dropped the opening set 6-2, then won the second set in a tiebreak (8-6) before closing out the 6-3 win in the third set.

"This was a good win for us to close the regular season," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "Any time you get a win over a ranked opponent it's big, and it's really good for us with our conference tournament coming up next on our schedule."

Middle Tennessee (8-14) was playing short-handed with just five players, automatically defaulting the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches. But the doubles shortage did not hurt the Blue Raiders as they won both doubles matches, including a 9-7 win at No. 1 to go up 1-0. But the forfeited No. 6 singles match quickly made is 1-1 Memphis before freshman Leon Nasemann snapped a seven-match losing streak with a straight set win, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2 singles. That win improved Nasemann to 9-9 in singles on the season after starting with an 8-2 record in the first 10 matches.

Junior Benedikt Fischer put the next Tiger point on the board, also winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, at No. 5 singles.

The remaining three singles matches split first sets as Amrit Narasimhan got off to a quick start at No. 1 singles, winning the first set, as did teammate Charlie Ramsay. But both Blue Raider opponents battled back to force third sets.

Gaerthoeffner's win at No. 3 gave the Tigers their second win in three matches. Just three points later, Ramsay had closed out his comeback win with a 6-1 third set win. Narasimhan had opened the third set in a bit of a hole, trailing 3-1 to No. 103 ranked Marc Rocaford at No. 1.

Narasimhan broke back and worked all the way back to a 5-5 tie when a point penalty was assessed to the Blue Raiders following the completion of the Gaerthoeffner match at No. 3. The point put Narasimhan up 6-5 on serve, and the senior made quick work of a rattled opponent who had been assigned the point penalty from his teammate's post-match penalty since the other matches were all completed.

The Tigers will now await the seedings from the Conference USA office as the remainder of the league finishes up its regular season schedule. The opponent and time of the next match will be posted at www.gotigersgo.com.

Memphis 6, No. 68 Middle Tennessee 1
Doubles
No. 1 - Marc Rocafort/Richard Cowden def. Amrit Narasimhan/Charlie Ramsay (UM), 9-7
No. 2 - Joao Paoliello/Kyle Wishing def. Leon Nasemann/Jimmy Khougassian (UM), 8-2
No. 3 - Jordan Smith/Spencer Heflin (UM) win by default
Singles
No. 1 - Amrit Narasimhan (UM) def. No. 103 Marc Rocafort, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
No. 2 - Leon Nasemann (UM) def. Morgan Richards, 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 - Michael Gaerthoeffner (UM) def. Joao Paoliello, 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3
No. 4 - Charlie Ramsay (UM) def. Alex McCann, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-1
No. 5 - Benedikt Fischer (UM) def. Kyle Wishing, 6-4, 6-0
No. 6 - Spencer Heflin (UM) won by default