Men’s Tennis Advances to Conference Semifinals

LAKE NONA, Fla. – The University of Memphis men's tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament, Friday, with a 4-2 win over #35 ranked SMU. With the victory, Memphis will now face top seeded USF, Saturday at noon (ET). USF defeated East Carolina, 4-0, Friday to advance.

Memphis reversed course on the last outing with SMU, taking an early lead in the match with wins at two and three doubles. The number two team of Ryan Peniston and Felix Rauch won a tiebreaker at two to seal the victory, 7-6 (4).

Junior Kai Lemke then gave Memphis a quick 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-1 win at three singles. Last time the two teams faced off in Memphis, it was Lemke's three-set win at three that clinched a come-from-behind victory against SMU.

Freshman Jan Pallares then made it 3-0 Tigers with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win at five singles.

But #35 SMU was not done. Ronald Slobodchikov, the number 73 ranked singles player in the country avenged a 7-6, 7-5 loss to Ryan Peniston with a 6-4, 6-1 win on Friday to make it 3-1. Teammate Tony Russell then came back from a 6-3 first set loss to win 6-3, 6-0 in the next two sets to pull within one of Memphis.

Felix Rauch had a chance to close the match in his second set at six. He fought his way to a tiebreaker, then came back from 5-1 down in the breaker to even it up at 5-all, but Julio Olaya took advantage of a double fault and a missed forehand to hang on for a 7-6 (7) second set win. But Rauch quickly got back after the Mustang, grabbing a 6-3 third set win to seal the victory and send Memphis to the semifinals for the first time since 2015. In that last semifinals appearance, Memphis also used a 4-2 win over SMU to advance, then falling 4-1 to USF at the tournament in Tulsa.

#36 Memphis 4, #35 SMU 2

Singles
No. 1 – #73 Ronald Slobodchikov def. #70 Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 6-4, 6-1
No. 2 – #96 Andrew Watson (Memphis) vs. Samm Butler, 6-4, 4-6, 5-3, uf
No. 3 – Kai Lemke (Memphis) def. Markus Kerner, 6-0, 6-1
No. 4 – Tony Russell def. Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis), 3-6, 6-3, 6-0
No. 5 – Jan Pallares (Memphis) def. Yates Johnson, 7-6 (4), 6-3
No. 6 – Felix Rauch (Memphis) def. Julio Olaya, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-3

Doubles
No. 1 – Kerner/Y. Johnson def. #73 Lemke/Watson (Memphis), 6-4
No. 2 – Rauch/Peniston def. Slobochikov/Butler, 7-6 (4)
No. 3 – Pallares/Matt Story (Memphis) def. Olaya/Russell, 6-3

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Players Mentioned

Kai Lemke

Jan Pallares

Chris Patzanovsky

Ryan Peniston

Felix Rauch

Matt Story

Andrew Watson

University of Memphis Athletics