Men’s Tennis Falls at #71 Pepperdine, 4-2

Tuesday, March 15

Malibu, CA

1:00 PM PT

University of Memphis

#71 Pepperdine University

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Mar 15, 2016 | Men's Tennis

Lemke and Manji each win singles matches on the road.

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – The University of Memphis men's tennis team (7-6, 1-1 American) took three matches to three sets, but fell 4-2 at #71 Pepperdine (5-5, 1-0 WCC), Tuesday, in non-conference play. The loss extends a Memphis losing streak to four matches heading in to the three-match tournament in San Diego that features more ranked opponents for the Tigers.

Pepperdine battled back to take the doubles point and the early 1-0 lead. Memphis led at both two and three doubles and trailed at one before the home team stormed back for a 6-4 win at number two and a 7-5 win at three. Memphis had battled back to 5-5 at one, but that match was abandoned with the doubles point decided.

Stefan Menichella gave Pepperdine a quick 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Chris Patzanovsky at four singles, but sophomore Kai Lemke had a reply for Memphis, winning his match at three in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

While Lemke was closing out his match, teammate Ryan Peniston had bounced back from a first set loss to win his second set, 6-3, but fell 6-1 in the third for a 3-0 Waves lead.

Shakeel Manji tried to inspire a Tiger run with a 7-5, 7-5 thriller at six singles, but Pedro Iamachkine came back from dropping the second set to Memphis freshman Felix Rauch, 6-4, for a 6-2 win in the third for the 4-2 victory.

Andrew Watson was playing in a third set at one singles when the match was decided, so his match was also abandoned.

Memphis heads to San Diego now to participate in the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic. Memphis will face #36 ranked Princeton, Thursday, at 10 a.m. (PT). The winner of that match will play the winner of the San Diego State vs. #8 Texas Tech match. The two losing teams will also face one another on Friday.

#71 Pepperdine 4, #26 Memphis 2
Doubles
No. 1 -- #27 Gabriel Sidney/Guilherme Hadlich vs. Louis Asser/Kai Lemke (Memphis), 5-5, uf
No. 2 – Lautaro Pane/Pedro Iamachkine def. Ryan Peniston/Felix Rauch (Memphis), 6-4
No. 3 – Tom Hill/Stefan Menichella def. Andrew Watson/Shakeel Manji (Memphis), 7-5
Order of finish: 2, 3
Singles
No. 1 – Guilherme Hadlich vs. #86 Andrew Watson (Memphis), 5-7, 6-3, 3-3, uf
No. 2 – Lautaro Pane def. #61 Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
No. 3 – Kei Lemke (Memphis) def. Gabriel Sidney, 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 – Stefan Menichella def. Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis), 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 – Pero Iamachkine def. Felix Rauch (Memphis), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
No. 6 – Shakeel Manji (Memphis) def. Tom Hill, 7-5, 7-5
Order of finish: 4, 3, 2, 6, 5