Men's tennis comeback bid falls short at Tulsa

Tuesday, April 2

Tulsa, Okla.

2 p.m.

University of Memphis

Tulsa

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Apr 02, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. – A valiant rally fell short Tuesday afternoon as Memphis men's tennis dropped a 4-3 league decision at Tulsa.

Despite dropping the doubles point, Memphis answered with victories in three of the first five singles decisions. Going the distance in the match-deciding contest, Memphis' rally fell just shy as the home side claimed the three-set thriller.

Tulsa turned in doubles wins on courts 1 and 2 to claim the early advantage. Playing out the opening point, duo Jan Pallares and Patrick Sydow outlasted Tulsa's court 2 tandem in a 5-5 tiebreak.

In singles, Matt Story and David Stevenson were the first to finish behind straight-set wins to provide Memphis with a 2-1 lead.

Tulsa responded with wins on courts 1 and 3 for a 3-2 advantage before Jan Pallares turned in a second-set tiebreak victory to take court 2 in straights.

Shortly after Pallares evened the overall match at 3-3, Oscar Cutting delivered a masterful comeback effort at the bottom of the ladder. Down a set and trailing 5-3 in the second frame, Cutting broke serve as part of claiming three consecutive games to force a tiebreak. Falling behind 3-1 in the tiebreak, Cutting rallied once more with five straight points to record a second-set win.

In the final frame on court 6, both sides held serve until Tulsa's Stefan Hampe broke for a 5-3 lead. Hampe then fended off another break-point bid from Cutting to seal the match for the Golden Hurricane.

The Tigers will return to Memphis this weekend for their final two home matches of 2019. Memphis will host SMU on Friday and Tulane on Sunday, with the weekend finale serving as the team's Senior Day. Both contests are slated for 1 p.m.

Results
Singles
1. #73 Majed Kilani (TLS) def. Chris Patzanovsky (MEM), 7-5, 6-1
2. Jan Pallares (MEM) def. Kody Pearson (TLS), 6-3, 7-6 (4)
3. Joshua Goodger (TLS) def. Jeremy Taylor (MEM), 6-3, 7-5
4. Matt Story (MEM) def. Jarod Hing (TLS), 6-4, 6-3
5. Stefan Hampe (TLS) def. Oscar Cutting (MEM), 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3
6. David Stevenson (MEM) def. Boriss Kamdem (TLS), 6-3, 6-3
(Order of finish: 4, 6, 1, 3, 2, 5)

Doubles
1. #88 Hing/Kamdem (TLS) def. #77Stevenson/Cutting (MEM), 6-4
2. Pallares/Sydow (MEM) def. Pearson/Kilani (TLS), 6-5(5)
3. Goodger/Thelwall-Jones (TLS) def. Story/Taylor (MEM), 6-4
(Order of finish: 1, 3, 2)