The University of Memphis men's tennis team will hold their season
opener on Saturday Feb. 3 at The Wimbledon Sports complex.
The Tigers will face in-state rival University of Tennessee at Martin at 12 p.m. and will square off with North Alabama at 6 p.m.
Both matches will be played for the doubles point, followed by the singles matches.
The Tigers have faced some intense practices and are ready to open the season at home.
These first matches should get the Tigers ready for the eight nationally ranked teams they will have to face this season.
The Tigers return seven letterwinners from 2000 including all but the No.2 singles player from last season.
The No.1 singles spot will most likely go to Joe Schmulian who is only a freshman.
Schmulian won two of the three intercollegiate Tennis Association Summer Circuit tournaments he entered before moving on to the quarterfinals at the ITA nationals.
In the Fall, Schmulian was 9-5 in singles and teamed with teammate Michael Chamberlain for a 10-4 record in doubles.
The Tigers also return three key seniors in their campaign to break
the top 75 teams in the nation.
Seniors Todd Alistair, Jack Hu and Chris Buckley have each played big roles in the team's success.
In their first two years under coach Phil Chamberlain, they all had solid fall seasons.
Buckley topped off the fall by winning the Flight B consolation Championship at Tennessee.
He was also teamed with sophomre Jamie Adams to win the B doubles championship at Middle Tennessee State University earlier in the fall.
They successfully defeated the team of Foley and Mayer from Conference USA foe Louisville.
Hu returned to the line up this year after being moved around due to injuries in the Spring.
He recovered from a rough start to win eight consecutive matches and finished an 11-11 singles record after a loss at the conference tournament ended his winning streak.
Chamberlain, who is an alumni of the U of M, was recently inducted into the Tennessee Tennis Hall of Fame.
