The 57th-ranked Memphis men’s tennis team continued to rack up wins this weekend, taking three straight matches to win the championship of the 23rd Annual UC-Irvine Anteater Classic in Irvine, Calif.
The Tigers, which entered tournament play this weekend as the No. 1 seed, lost just four points in the three matches while improving to 13-5 overall. The championship marked the second tourney title Memphis has won this season after winning the H.E.B. Invitational last month.
Memphis knocked off the University of Denver, 6-1, Thursday before beating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 6-1, Friday and Conference USA rival Southern Miss, 5-2, Saturday to take the title.
“We went there with good expectations being the No. 1 seed,” freshman Alex Bucewicz said. “Eventually, we lived up to those expectations.”
On Day One, Memphis’ doubles pairs of Joe Schmulian/Michael Chamberlain and Bucewicz/ Michael LaHaie took their matches at No. 2 and No. 3 to gain the doubles point.
The Tigers then took five of six singles matches to place Denver (5-11) in the back-draw of the tournament.
The following morning, Memphis swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 8-1, 8-6, and 8-5 in doubles competition to seize momentum going into singles action.
At No. 1 singles, Memphis junior Ben Stapp defeated 66th-ranked Chris Borgues, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. The Tigers added four more singles wins to send Corpus Christi back to Texas without a consolation prize.
On championship Saturday, Memphis jumped out early, clinching the first two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. But in singles competition, Memphis fell behind, 2-1, after losing the first two matches.
Junior Richard Magney (8-8) then knocked off Southern Mississippi’s J.J. Martin, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3 singles, sparking the Tigers to three more wins.
Sophomore Lee Taylor Walker defeated David Canudas, 6-3, 6-4, to improve to 9-6 while freshman Bucewicz (13-5) knocked off Uwe Gneiting, 6-3, 6-4. Senior Michael Chamberlain (14-3) put the finishing touches on the victory, defeating Nic Carteret, 6-4, 6-1.
With the win over Southern Miss Saturday, the Tigers also won their fifth straight C-USA contest.
Memphis returns to action Wednesday when the Tigers host the University of New Orleans at 2 p.m. on the Varsity Tennis Courts.
