Tigers win San Diego Spring Classic title

Saturday, March 17

San Diego, Calif.

4 p.m.

University of Memphis

#25 Harvard

Mar 17, 2018 | Men's Tennis

Memphis downs Harvard 4-2 to cap West Coast swing

Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Turning in three wins in as many days, the No. 24/23 Memphis men's tennis team returns home as the champions of the eighth annual San Diego Spring Classic following a 4-2 win against No. 25 Harvard in the championship round.

Memphis (11-4, 2-0) claimed the opening doubles point and then delivered wins in the final three singles decisions to earn its sixth-straight match victory.

"We knew Harvard was a good doubles team," head coach Paul Goebel said of the early momentum. "It might have been the best doubles point we have played all year. We played well on all three courts. Harvard didn't give it to us, we had to earn it. It was high quality. We executed very well."

In singles play, the Crimson (14-3, 0-0) evened the match with a win on court 4, then took a brief 2-1 lead with a win on court 5.

Memphis responded by taking the next three singles points to set the 4-2 final.

Following a short rain delay, senior Andrew Watson posted a 6-1, 6-4 win at the No. 2 position to even the match, 2-2.

Senior Kai Lemke claimed a win on court 3 by a final of 7-5, 6-1, while sophomore Jan Pallares quickly followed with a straight-set win on court 6 to clinch the match for the Tigers and sweep the San Diego Spring Classic.

"There were a lot of great teams in this tournament," Goebel said. "There were five teams ranked in the top 50. We are showing some good team unity. We're picking each other up and encouraging each other. These teams are not giving it to us. Harvard is very well-coached, and they had a lot of fan support today. Our guys handled that well. I'm happy for our guys to play three days in a row against three great teams. We have a way to go, but we have some good momentum going."

The Tigers return home to host another Ivy League foe in Dartmouth on Thursday. First serve is set for noon from the Racquet Club of Memphis.

RESULTS

Singles
1. #63 Peniston (MEM) vs. Tao (HARV) 6-2, 3-6, 2-0 unfinished
2. Watson (MEM) def. #125 Zhou (HARV) 6-1, 6-4
3. Lemke (MEM) def. Thirouin (HARV) 7-5, 6-1
4. Solomon (HARV) def. Patzanovsky (MEM) 6-1, 6-2
5. Wrzesinski (HARV) def. Rauch (MEM) 6-0, 6-4
6. Pallares (MEM) def. Lee (HARV) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
1. Peniston/Watson (MEM) def. Tao/Weber (HARV) 6-3
2. Lemke/Sullivan (MEM) def. Morrow/Solomon (HARV) 7-5
3. Story/Pallares (MEM) vs. Thirouin/Zhou (HARV) 6-6 unfinished