University of Memphis Athletics
Saturday, April 1
Memphis, Tenn.
1:00 p.m.
University of Memphis
4
vs
2
#38 SMU
Photo by: Joe Murphy
Men's Tennis Comes Back to Down #38 SMU, 4-2
Apr 01, 2017 | Men's Tennis
Tigers come back from a 2-0 deficit for the conference win.
MEMPHIS – It took almost four hours, but the Memphis men's tennis team (13-5, 2-0 American) came back from a 2-0 deficit to down visiting SMU (10-8, 2-1 American) in conference play, Saturday.
It was the visiting team that drew first blood, grabbing wins at two and three doubles to take an early 1-0 lead in the match.
"We've had some great matches with SMU over the past few years and the doubles point is always such a big one. We've won a few of those in really close fashion, so I think they were really ready to get that doubles point," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "They played very well, especially at two and three. It was one of those points where I don't think we played that poorly, we just lost, so as a coach, you're ok with that."
The early lead powered the Mustangs to early leads on all six courts in the opening set of singles play and the Tigers could never get the match on two on track, falling in a match there to fall behind 2-0.
But the bottom half of the Tiger lineup rallied back.
"We've learned that late in the season like this, every team is seasoned now," Goebel said. "Every match is going to be up and down and is going to be long and hard-fought no matter what happens at the beginning, we have learned not to panic."
Chris Patzanovsky got the Tigers their first point with a 6-3, 6-4 win at four singles. On the court next door, freshman Jan Pallares tied the match at 2-all with a 6-4, 7-5 win at five. Felix Rauch then pushed Memphis ahead with a 6-4, 7-5 win of his own at six singles.
"We've talked a lot about winning those second sets. Our opponents did a good job of getting up a break in the second set, and we didn't just let that set go, we kept fighting for it and were able to pull all of those out."
But while that was happening on one side of the grandstand, Ryan Peniston and Kai Lemke were still working on their matches at one and three.
Peniston was battling in his match at one singles against number 55 ranked Ronald Slobodchikov. Peniston dragged the match in to a tiebreak in the first set, falling 7-5 in the breaker, and sometime mid-first set, began cramping. After taking breaks for treatment, and icing and rehydrating at every change over, Peniston got back on the court and somehow found a way to win the second set, 7-5.
That time ended up being crucial. Lemke had won his opening set 6-4, and was serving at 5-4 in the second set. But the set got away from him at the same time Peniston was 5-4 down in his second set. It looked like Peniston's match may slip away before Lemke could try to recover, but Peniston's 7-5 second set win allowed Lemke to start his third set, and the German hurried to a 6-1 victory to seal the win.
"Ryan was just in a really long battle and his body was struggling today," Goebel said. "He was just trying every which way to stay out there and try to prolong the match, and by doing that, he was able to win that second set and helped Kai. I was really happy for Kai. He had a chance for that second set, and with the chances he had, it would have been easy to fold in that third set. But he didn't do that, he got his energy going and started hitting his shots and I'm just really proud of how he finished that off."
Memphis has very little time to celebrate the win, as number 29 ranked Tulane will be on the other side of the nets on Sunday, for a noon contest, a good prep for conference tournament play when the teams play matches on back-to-back days.
#34 Memphis 4, #38 SMU 2
Singles
No. 1 – Ryan Peniston (Memphis) vs. #55 Ronald Slobodchikov, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 0-3, uf
No. 2 -- #83 Hunter Johnson def. #75 Andrew Watson (Memphis), 6-1, 5-0, wd
No. 3 – Kai Lemke (Memphis) def. Samm Butler, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
No. 4 – Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) def. Arkadijs Slobodkins, 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 – Jan Pallares (Memphis) def. Markus Kerner, 6-4, 7-5
No. 6 – Felix Rauch (Memphis) def. Yates Johnson, 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: 2, 4, 5, 6, 3
Doubles
No. 1 – Lemke/Watson (Memphis) def. Y. Johnson/Markus Kerner, 6-3
No. 2 – H. Johnson/Slobodkins def. Peniston/Rauch (Memphis), 7-5
No. 3 – Butler/Slobodchikov def. Matt Story/Pallares (Memphis), 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
It was the visiting team that drew first blood, grabbing wins at two and three doubles to take an early 1-0 lead in the match.
"We've had some great matches with SMU over the past few years and the doubles point is always such a big one. We've won a few of those in really close fashion, so I think they were really ready to get that doubles point," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "They played very well, especially at two and three. It was one of those points where I don't think we played that poorly, we just lost, so as a coach, you're ok with that."
The early lead powered the Mustangs to early leads on all six courts in the opening set of singles play and the Tigers could never get the match on two on track, falling in a match there to fall behind 2-0.
But the bottom half of the Tiger lineup rallied back.
"We've learned that late in the season like this, every team is seasoned now," Goebel said. "Every match is going to be up and down and is going to be long and hard-fought no matter what happens at the beginning, we have learned not to panic."
Chris Patzanovsky got the Tigers their first point with a 6-3, 6-4 win at four singles. On the court next door, freshman Jan Pallares tied the match at 2-all with a 6-4, 7-5 win at five. Felix Rauch then pushed Memphis ahead with a 6-4, 7-5 win of his own at six singles.
"We've talked a lot about winning those second sets. Our opponents did a good job of getting up a break in the second set, and we didn't just let that set go, we kept fighting for it and were able to pull all of those out."
But while that was happening on one side of the grandstand, Ryan Peniston and Kai Lemke were still working on their matches at one and three.
Peniston was battling in his match at one singles against number 55 ranked Ronald Slobodchikov. Peniston dragged the match in to a tiebreak in the first set, falling 7-5 in the breaker, and sometime mid-first set, began cramping. After taking breaks for treatment, and icing and rehydrating at every change over, Peniston got back on the court and somehow found a way to win the second set, 7-5.
That time ended up being crucial. Lemke had won his opening set 6-4, and was serving at 5-4 in the second set. But the set got away from him at the same time Peniston was 5-4 down in his second set. It looked like Peniston's match may slip away before Lemke could try to recover, but Peniston's 7-5 second set win allowed Lemke to start his third set, and the German hurried to a 6-1 victory to seal the win.
"Ryan was just in a really long battle and his body was struggling today," Goebel said. "He was just trying every which way to stay out there and try to prolong the match, and by doing that, he was able to win that second set and helped Kai. I was really happy for Kai. He had a chance for that second set, and with the chances he had, it would have been easy to fold in that third set. But he didn't do that, he got his energy going and started hitting his shots and I'm just really proud of how he finished that off."
Memphis has very little time to celebrate the win, as number 29 ranked Tulane will be on the other side of the nets on Sunday, for a noon contest, a good prep for conference tournament play when the teams play matches on back-to-back days.
#34 Memphis 4, #38 SMU 2
Singles
No. 1 – Ryan Peniston (Memphis) vs. #55 Ronald Slobodchikov, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 0-3, uf
No. 2 -- #83 Hunter Johnson def. #75 Andrew Watson (Memphis), 6-1, 5-0, wd
No. 3 – Kai Lemke (Memphis) def. Samm Butler, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
No. 4 – Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) def. Arkadijs Slobodkins, 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 – Jan Pallares (Memphis) def. Markus Kerner, 6-4, 7-5
No. 6 – Felix Rauch (Memphis) def. Yates Johnson, 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: 2, 4, 5, 6, 3
Doubles
No. 1 – Lemke/Watson (Memphis) def. Y. Johnson/Markus Kerner, 6-3
No. 2 – H. Johnson/Slobodkins def. Peniston/Rauch (Memphis), 7-5
No. 3 – Butler/Slobodchikov def. Matt Story/Pallares (Memphis), 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
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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