Men’s Tennis Grabs Conference Win Wednesday

Wednesday, March 15

Memphis, Tenn.

12:00 pm

University of Memphis

Temple University

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Mar 15, 2017 | Men's Tennis

Memphis 4, Temple 0 (3/15/17)

Peniston and Rauch win ninth consecutive doubles match.

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – The ides of March did not trip up the number 27 ranked Memphis men's tennis team (12-3, 1-0 American) as the Tigers grabbed a 4-0 win over Temple (10-8, 1-3) in American Conference action Wednesday.

The visiting Owls made a strong run at the Tigers though. After Memphis won the first doubles match at three, 6-1, the Owls were right on their heels with a 6-2 win at one doubles.

"Really tough match," associate head coach Chris Doerr said. "We knew Temple were really good. They're improved a lot in the last few years and their coach is doing a great job. Doubles came right down to the wire at two."

Forty six minutes in to the doubles play, the each team's number two doubles entry was still on the court, with Memphis trailing 6-5 before forcing a tiebreak. The Tigers got down early in the tiebreak though, trailing 2-1, before ripping off four straight points to push ahead 5-2. Temple would get to four points, but Memphis closed out the tiebreaker 7-4 for the win and the team doubles point. The victory at two was the ninth straight win for the Tigers' tandem of Ryan Peniston and Felix Rauch.

"Felix and Ryan did a good job of handling pressure, looking good out there and stealing the doubles point for us after Jan and Matt gave us a great start to the doubles point."

Once the two teams stepped on the court for singles play, Memphis used three straight set victories at one, two and six to seal the 4-0 win over Temple.

Memphis is off this weekend and is back in action next Friday, Mar. 24, at Texas Tech. Memphis then travels to play another Big 12 opponent in a road match, playing at #6 Baylor, Sunday, Mar. 26.

#27 Memphis 4, Temple 0
Singles
No. 1 – Ryan Peniston (Memphis) def. Artem Kapshuk, 6-0, 6-2
No. 2 -- #78 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Floridan Mayer, 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 – Kai Lemke (Memphis) vs. Thomas Sevel, 6-3, 2-5, uf
No. 4 – Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) vs. Uladzimir Dorash, 7-5, 1-0, uf
No. 5 – Jan Pallares (Memphis) vs. Francisco Bohorquez, 6-2, 5-5 uf
No. 6 – Felix Rauch (Memphis) def. Eric Biscoveanu, 6-3, 6-0
Order of finish: 6, 1, 2
Doubles
No. 1 – Kapshuk/Sevel def. Watson/Lemke (Memphis), 6-2
No. 2 – Rauch/Peniston (Memphis) def. Mayer/Vineet Naran, 7-6 (4)
No. 3 – Matt Story/Pallares (Memphis) def. Bohorquez/Dorash, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2