Tigers Just Short in AAC Championship Final

Sunday, April 24

Tulsa, Okla.

Noon

University of Memphis

(1) #26 SMU

2022 American Athletic Conference Tennis Championships

Photo by: Joey Johnson

Apr 24, 2022 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. – The second-seeded Memphis Tiger men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought American Athletic Conference Championship title match to top-seeded SMU, 4-2, Sunday afternoon in Tulsa, Okla.

No. 36 Memphis (16-7) was appearing in its second AAC Championship final and first since 2014. No. 26 SMU (22-6) earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win.

"Today was a hard-fought conference championship by both teams," Memphis head coach Paul Goebel said. "Our guys came out strong and got the doubles point, but I give SMU a lot of credit for fighting back and making it hard on us on every court. We had a great tournament and hope to play some more at NCAAs."

The Tigers lost the first doubles match but won the next two to take the day's opening point. Patrick Sydow/Pau Fanlo picked up a 6-4 win and Oscar Cutting/Pablo Alemany Malea followed with a 7-6 (7-2) victory to put the Tigers ahead, 1-0.

Memphis' singles day was highlighted by freshman Alemany Malea moving to 18-0 on the season with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 win on court four. Four other singles matches went three sets.

Memphis will find out if it has earned an NCAA Tournament bid during the NCAA.com Selection Show on Monday, May 2 at 5 p.m. The first round of the tournament begins Friday, May 6. An NCAA Tournament appearance would be Memphis' second-straight and eighth in the last 10 seasons.

#26 SMU 4, #36 Memphis 2
Singles
1. Adam Neff (SMU) def. David Stevenson (MEM) 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4
2. Liam Krall (SMU) def. Jeremy Taylor (MEM) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3
3. Caleb Chakravarthi (SMU) vs. Oscar Cutting (MEM) 4-6, 6-4, 3-2, unfinished
4. Pablo Alemany Malea (MEM) def. Pranav Kumar (SMU) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
5. Julian Steinhausen (SMU) def. Pau Fanlo (MEM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Ivan Thamma (SMU) def. Harry Rock (MEM) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3

Doubles
1. Adam Neff/Pranav Kumar (SMU) def. #29 David Stevenson/Jeremy Taylor (MEM) 6-2
2. Oscar Cutting/Pablo Alemany Malea (MEM) def. Ivan Thamma/Caleb Chakravarthi (SMU) 7-6 (7-2)
3. Patrick Sydow/Pau Fanlo (MEM) def. Julian Steinhausen/Huntley Allen (SMU) 6-4

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (5,4,6,1,2)

How to follow the Tigers: For complete information on Memphis Tiger Men's Tennis, visit www.GoTigersGo.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.