University of Memphis Athletics
Sunday, January 22
Memphis, Tenn.
1:00 p.m.
University of Memphis
6
vs
1
LSU
Photo by: Joe Murphy
Men’s Tennis Wins the Battle of the Tigers, Downs LSU 6-1
Jan 22, 2017 | Men's Tennis
Memphis improves to 2-0 with another home win Sunday.
MEMPHIS – The University of Memphis men's tennis team (2-0) wrapped up opening weekend with a 6-1 win over LSU (0-1), Sunday. That win followed a 7-0 win over Michigan State on Friday to open spring dual season play.
LSU came out and took early leads in two and three doubles as the two teams fought for the team point. After the Memphis number one team of Kai Lemke and Andrew Watson won their match at one, 6-3, the visiting Tigers evened the battle with a 6-4 win at two.
"I was really impressed with the energy that LSU brought at the beginning of doubles," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "I didn't think we were playing poorly by any means, but they are very well coached in doubles and are very aggressive and have some big servers. But I give our guys credit, because we kept our composure, we didn't panic, which you can sometimes do in this shorter scoring format. We kept doing the right things, we hung in there, stayed positive and fed on the fans' energy and off our teammates' energy.
With the doubles battle knotted at one match each, LSU seemed to have the upper hand on court three, leading 4-1 at one point against the Memphis tandem of freshman Jan Pallares and Matt Story. But the Memphis duo kept working away, coming all the way back to grab a 7-5 win at three to clinch the point for the home-standing Tigers.
"They've been playing very well in practice," Goebel said. "So seeing where it came down to big-time pressure where it came down to their court, it's good to see how they responded today. They really earned it, they weren't hoping that their opponent made the mistake, they had to go out and earn it and they played very, very well to win that match. Winning that doubles point today was just huge for the momentum of the match."
For the second time in as many matches, Andrew Watson was the first Tiger to put a singles win up on the board, grabbing a straight set win 6-3, 6-2 for a 2-0 team lead. Over on court six, Felix Rauch made it 3-0 Tigers with a 6-2, 6-3 win, setting up Pallares to close out the win. The freshman had won his opening set, 6-0, but was in a battle in the second set, pulling in to a tiebreak from 6-5 down. Once in the breaker, however, he quickly closed out the win, 7-4, sealing the win for Memphis.
Both teams opted to play out the remaining matches, which allowed LSU to put its lone point on the board as Jordan Daige upended Ryan Peniston, 6-2, 7-5 at one singles. Kai Lemke followed with a come-back, three-setter, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, which included a break of serve at deuce for match point, while Chris Patzanovsky again found himself in a super tiebreak after splitting his first two sets 7-6 (4), 2-6. The super tiebreak was hotly contested and was tied at 8-all when Patzanovsky's opponent hit a shot wide and another long for the 10-8 final score.
Memphis will play its first true road match of the spring on Friday, travelling to Chicago to participate in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend regional at #13 ranked Northwestern. Memphis will open against the home team at 2 p.m., Friday. The team that wins that match will face the winner of the Georgia Tech/Stanford match on Saturday.
Memphis 6, LSU 1
Doubles
No. 1 – Kai Lemke/Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Jordan Daigle/Justin Butsch, 6-3
No. 2 – Julian Saborio/Gabor Csonka def. Ryan Peniston/Felix Rauch (Memphis), 6-4
No. 3 –Matt Story/Jan Pallares (Memphis) def. Rafael Wagner/Eric Samuelsson, 7-5
Order of finish 1, 2, 3
Singles
No. 1 – Jordan Daigle def. #35 Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 6-2, 7-5
No. 2 -- #111 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Justin Butsch, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 – Kai Lemke (Memphis) def. Nikola Samardzic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) def. Gabor Csonka, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 1-0 (10-8)
No. 5 – Jan Pallares (Memphis) def. Rafael Wagner, 6-0, 7-6 (4)
No. 6 – Felix Rauch (Memphis) def. Agie Moreno (LSU), 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 4
-www.gotigersgo.com-
LSU came out and took early leads in two and three doubles as the two teams fought for the team point. After the Memphis number one team of Kai Lemke and Andrew Watson won their match at one, 6-3, the visiting Tigers evened the battle with a 6-4 win at two.
"I was really impressed with the energy that LSU brought at the beginning of doubles," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "I didn't think we were playing poorly by any means, but they are very well coached in doubles and are very aggressive and have some big servers. But I give our guys credit, because we kept our composure, we didn't panic, which you can sometimes do in this shorter scoring format. We kept doing the right things, we hung in there, stayed positive and fed on the fans' energy and off our teammates' energy.
With the doubles battle knotted at one match each, LSU seemed to have the upper hand on court three, leading 4-1 at one point against the Memphis tandem of freshman Jan Pallares and Matt Story. But the Memphis duo kept working away, coming all the way back to grab a 7-5 win at three to clinch the point for the home-standing Tigers.
"They've been playing very well in practice," Goebel said. "So seeing where it came down to big-time pressure where it came down to their court, it's good to see how they responded today. They really earned it, they weren't hoping that their opponent made the mistake, they had to go out and earn it and they played very, very well to win that match. Winning that doubles point today was just huge for the momentum of the match."
For the second time in as many matches, Andrew Watson was the first Tiger to put a singles win up on the board, grabbing a straight set win 6-3, 6-2 for a 2-0 team lead. Over on court six, Felix Rauch made it 3-0 Tigers with a 6-2, 6-3 win, setting up Pallares to close out the win. The freshman had won his opening set, 6-0, but was in a battle in the second set, pulling in to a tiebreak from 6-5 down. Once in the breaker, however, he quickly closed out the win, 7-4, sealing the win for Memphis.
Both teams opted to play out the remaining matches, which allowed LSU to put its lone point on the board as Jordan Daige upended Ryan Peniston, 6-2, 7-5 at one singles. Kai Lemke followed with a come-back, three-setter, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, which included a break of serve at deuce for match point, while Chris Patzanovsky again found himself in a super tiebreak after splitting his first two sets 7-6 (4), 2-6. The super tiebreak was hotly contested and was tied at 8-all when Patzanovsky's opponent hit a shot wide and another long for the 10-8 final score.
Memphis will play its first true road match of the spring on Friday, travelling to Chicago to participate in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend regional at #13 ranked Northwestern. Memphis will open against the home team at 2 p.m., Friday. The team that wins that match will face the winner of the Georgia Tech/Stanford match on Saturday.
Memphis 6, LSU 1
Doubles
No. 1 – Kai Lemke/Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Jordan Daigle/Justin Butsch, 6-3
No. 2 – Julian Saborio/Gabor Csonka def. Ryan Peniston/Felix Rauch (Memphis), 6-4
No. 3 –Matt Story/Jan Pallares (Memphis) def. Rafael Wagner/Eric Samuelsson, 7-5
Order of finish 1, 2, 3
Singles
No. 1 – Jordan Daigle def. #35 Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 6-2, 7-5
No. 2 -- #111 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Justin Butsch, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 – Kai Lemke (Memphis) def. Nikola Samardzic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) def. Gabor Csonka, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 1-0 (10-8)
No. 5 – Jan Pallares (Memphis) def. Rafael Wagner, 6-0, 7-6 (4)
No. 6 – Felix Rauch (Memphis) def. Agie Moreno (LSU), 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 4
-www.gotigersgo.com-
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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