Men’s Tennis Grabs 4-0 Conference Win Friday

Friday, April 5

Memphis, Tenn.

1 p.m.

University of Memphis

SMU

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Apr 05, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Memphis 4, SMU 0

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis men's tennis (11-10) team improved to 2-2 in American Athletic Conference play with a 4-0 sweep of SMU (11-14, 0-3 AAC), Friday.

Memphis took an early lead in the match with wins at one and two doubles. The team of David Stevenson and Oscar Cutting grabbed a 7-4 win in the tiebreaker at one to secure the team point after Jan Pallares and Patrick Sydow got the first Memphis win of the afternoon, 6-4.

The doubles win pushed the Tigers out to a quick start in singles play. Oscar Cutting won his opening set at five singles, 6-0. David Stevenson also got a quick first set 6-3. Things then started to get a bit more competitive. At two singles, Pallares ended up in a first set tiebreak, but took the early advantage with a 7-3 score in the breaker. On the court next door, Chris Patzanovsky got an early break on number 69 ranked Carles Sarrio and had led at 6-5 with deciding point when Sarrio forced the tiebreak.

At the same time, Cutting and SMU's Huntley Allen were knotted up at 6-all at five singles. Patzanovsky hit a forehand winner to get his first set tiebreak, 7-4, then Cutting grabbed the 7-3 win to get the first singles victory of the afternoon and put the Tigers up 2-0.

Meanwhile, Matt Story avoided the breaker at three singles with a 7-5 win, giving Memphis first set wins in all three matches atop the lineup.

But it was the bottom half of the lineup that secured the win with Jeremy Taylor and David Stevenson each finishing within serves of one another. Taylor grabbed a 6-3, 6-2 win at four singles and Stevenson closed out the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win at six for the second conference win of the year for Memphis.

The Tigers will close out the Racquet Club era on Sunday at 1 pm when conference foe Tulane comes to town. That match will also be senior day for Patzanovsky.