The 68th-ranked Memphis tennis team ended its season this weekend with losses to fifth-seeded Louisville and seventh-seeded DePaul in the Conference USA Men’s Tennis Championship in Louisville, Ky.
On Friday evening, the fourth-seeded Tigers, lost, 4-1, to host Louisville, in the tourney quarterfinals. Then, on Saturday morning, Depaul upset Memphis, 4-2, in the consolation bracket.
During the UL match, Memphis grabbed the doubles point and the early 1-0 lead as junior Ben Stapp and sophomore Lee Taylor Walker defeated UL’s doubles pair, 8-5, at No. 1. Although senior Michael Chamberlain and Joe Schmulian were defeated at No. 2 doubles, Memphis got the point when freshman Alex Bucewicz and senior Michael LaHaie scored an 8-6 victory at the No. 3 spot.
But the Tigers, which had defeated the Cardinals twice this season, couldn’t maintain their momentum before a tough Louisville home crowd, losing all four singles matches on the day.
“We played well considering the adverse conditions,” Tiger head coach Phil Chamberlain said Monday.
In the consolation bracket Saturday, Memphis lost the doubles point to DePaul with losses at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions.
“We were a little flat,” Chamberlain said. “The Louisville match took a lot out of us. We did not play well in doubles.”
On the singles side, Bucewicz topped Robert Kotroczo, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 5 and Chamberlain knocked off Neil Johnston 7-6, 6-2, at No. 6 for the Tigers’ only points of the day.
“The guys played their hearts out in singles competition,” Chamberlain said. “This program is definitely headed in the right direction.”
Memphis finishes the season with an 18-8 record.
