Men’s Tennis Hosting Trio of Matches Over Weekend

Friday, March 3

Memphis, Tenn.

11:00 am

University of Memphis

Jackson State University

Ryan Peniston and Felix Rauch, 2016 MTennis

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Men’s Tennis Hosting Trio of Matches Over Weekend

Mar 02, 2017 | Men's Tennis

No. 18 Cornell Visiting on Sunday

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – The University of Memphis men's tennis team (7-2) moved to number 35 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings after a pair of 4-3 road wins to close a three-match swing while the Racquet Club of Memphis hosted the ATP Memphis Open.

Now that the weather has warmed up and the club has begun swapping back to its normal set up, the Tigers are back home and will host a trio of matches this weekend, beginning with a Friday doubleheader against Jackson State University (11 a.m., 3 p.m.). The weekend will close with a Sunday visit from #18 ranked Cornell (11 a.m.). At 11-1, the Big Red is enjoying its highest team ranking in school history and will be coming to Memphis after a Friday match at #37 ranked Indiana, a team Memphis beat 4-1 to start this past three-match road schedule.

About Memphis (7-2)

The Tigers moved to number 35 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings (ITA)
To date, Memphis has faced three teams in the national rankings and has four more teams coming up on the schedule that were also in last week's rankings: #17 Baylor, #20 Tulane, #26 SMU and #40 USF.
Ryan Peniston was named the American Athletic Conference men's player of the week last week after going 2-0 in singles at number one and 2-0 in doubles at number two. Peniston is now 4-2 in dual season singles and is 13-6 in singles on the year. Peniston is currently #122 in the country in singles rankings.
Teammate Andrew Watson is still unbeaten in dual season singles this spring. Watson is 1-0 at one and 6-0 at two and has moved to #82 in the country in singles rankings in the ITA. Watson leads Memphis with a 15-5 overall singles mark this season.
Sophomore Chris Patzanovsky is also unbeaten in dual season singles matches this year. Patzanovsky picked up the match-clinching win on the road at Dartmouth last weekend, playing up a spot at number three singles. He then added a win at Harvard to move to 7-0 on the year.
Freshman Jan Pallares continues to make an impact in his first collegiate tennis campaign. The Spaniard is second on the squad with 14 singles wins, including a 4-2 mark at five singles and a 5-3 mark in dual season play.
Speaking of freshmen, the doubles team of Pallares and Matt Story will be looking to bounce back from their first doubles loss of the spring dual season. The pairing was off to a 6-0 start at three doubles, having clinched the point for the Tigers in a handful of matches, before suffering a 6-3 loss at Harvard in the last Memphis match.

About Jackson State (2-10), Friday (11 am, 3 pm)

Jackson State picked up their first two wins of the season last weekend at the SWAC Roundup
Junior Stylianos Gountsaris was a second team All-SWAC honoree last year at four singles while Vishu Prasad was a second team honoree at five singles
Jackson State won the SWAC championship last season and received the league's NCAA tournament bid, falling 4-0 at TCU in the first round.
The Tiger are also looking to replace the SWAC singles player of the year, Federico Boscarino. Boscarino won the player of the year award in 2016 and has transferred to the University of New Orleans, opening a spot atop the JSU singles lineup.

About Cornell (11-1), Sunday (11 am)

Cornell comes in with a #18 national ranking in the latest ITA polls. That is the Big Red's highest-ranking in program history.
The Big Red will play a road match at #37 Indiana on Friday before coming to Memphis for an 11 a.m. (CT) Sunday match.
This will be the third meeting in school history between Memphis and Cornell. Both of the previous meetings were 4-3 Memphis wins, one at Cornell and one on a neutral court in Virginia. This is Cornell's first-ever trip to Memphis.
Cornell's one loss came to conference foe Columbia, falling 4-1 in a neutral site match at Princeton in the ECAC Indoor Championships back on Feb. 19^th.
This is Cornell's second match this spring against a Tennessee-based school. The Big Red edged Tennessee, 4-3, in a neutral site match on Jan. 29^th.
The Big Red has a big roster. Cornell carries 15 players on its 2016-17 roster. Sophomore David Volfson was named the ITA Northeast Region Rookie of the Year last year and also garnered Ivy League Rookie of the Year and All-Ivy League honors as a freshman. Volfson has played in just three dual season singles matches, which has meant that freshman Legv Kazakov has taken over at one singles, posting a 6-2 mark there.
Senior Colin Sinclair is efforting a strong performance in his senior campaign. The Australian is 10-0 in dual season singles play, including a 7-0 mark at three singles.
Pietro Rimondini and Bernardo Casares Rosa are each 8-1 in dual season singles play. Rimondini is 7-1 at five and Casares Rosa is 7-1 at six.