Men's Tennis Falls To UCF Sunday

Sunday, March 8

Memphis, Tenn.

12:00 p.m.

University of Memphis

UCF

Photo by: Matthew A. Smith

Mar 08, 2020 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Tigers on the road at LSU, Tulane this week.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis men's tennis team put up a fight Sunday afternoon, but the Tigers fell short in a 4-1 American Athletic Conference decision to UCF. The match was played at Dunavant-Wellford Tennis Center on the Memphis University School campus.

With the setback, Memphis falls to 4-9 overall and 1-1 in The American. The Knights improve to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the conference. Sunday was the Tigers' second straight home match of the season, as they hosted and defeated Temple 7-0 on Mar. 1.

The tone of the match was set in doubles action, where Memphis had it chances. The Tigers went ahead in doubles when the No. 3 team of Matt Story and Marshall Sullivan posted a 6-4 victory over the UCF tandem of Mikhail Sokolovskiy and Alan Rubio. However, the Knights bounced back with narrow tiebreaker wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to take a 1-0 match lead.

Memphis tried to recover in singles play. After a loss at No. 1 singles to go down 2-0, the Tigers got on the board with a 6-1, 6-4 win from David Stevenson at No. 4 singles.

UCF countered with a 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 win at No. 2 singles to regain a two-point advantage at 3-1. The Knights then wrapped up the match when James Story's comeback at No. 3 singles fell short, dropping the match to UCF's Alan Rubio by scores of 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

The matches at No. 5 and No. 6 singles were suspended when UCF won the match at No. 3 singles.

The Tigers return to action this week with two road matches in the state of Louisiana. Memphis plays LSU in Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday, Mar. 11 and then faces Tulane in New Orleans, La., Sunday, Mar. 15. Memphis' next home match is Mar. 18 when it hosts Dartmouth.

Match Final
UCF 4 (8-3, 1-0 The American)
Memphis 1 (4-9, 1-1 The American)

Singles
#1 – Gabriel Decamps (UCF) def. Jan Pallares (UM), 6-0, 6-0
#2 – Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (UCF) def. Oscar Cutting (UM), 7-6 (9-7), 6-1
#3 – Alan Rubio (UCF) def. James Story (UM), 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
#4 – David Stevenson (UM) def. Trey Hilderbrand (UCF), 6-1, 6-4
#5 – Jeremy Taylor (UM) tied Bogdan Pavel (UCF), 6-7 (8-6), 6-4, 1-1 (suspended)
#6 – Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF) leads Patrick Sydow (UM), 6-7 (7-3), 7-5, 1-0 (suspended)
Order of Finish:1, 4, 2, 3

Doubles
#1 – Gabriel Decamps/Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (UCF) def. Jan Pallares/David Stevenson, 7-6 (7-4)
#2 – Bogdan Pavel/ Trey Hilderbrand (UCF) def. Oscar Cutting/James Story (UM), 7-6 (7-3)
#3 – Matt Story/Marshall Sullivan (UM) def. Mikhail Sokolovskiy/Alan Rubio (UCF), 6-4
Order of Finish:3, 1, 2