They went the distance Sunday, but the University of Memphis men's tennis team secured a perfect weekend, beating the University of Central Florida 7-0 on Saturday and the University of South Florida 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the Racquet Club of Memphis.
The wins vaulted the Tigers into the No. 1 seed for the upcoming American Athletic Conference Tournament, which begins on Friday at the Racquet Club of Memphis. The Tigers (13-4) jumped the Bulls after their win on Sunday according to the league office.
Memphis head coach Paul Goebel liked the way his team competed over the weekend slate.
"I'm really proud of our guys and how we came together. We competed great from the first to the last point," Goebel said after the matchup with USF. "It wasn't easy, we knew it wouldn't be. Matt Hill has done a great job with that program. It was very highly contested, but we were fortunate to be able to come out on top."
The No. 26 Tigers made slight work of the No. 60 Knights to kick of the weekend, sweeping both the singles and doubles points.
The dynamic tandem of seniors David O'Hare and Joe Salisbury kicked off the scoring for Memphis with a quick 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles. Senior Cedric De Zutter and Junior Connor Glennon followed with a win of their own at No. 2 doubles to give the Blue and Gray the point in doubles.
Glennon notched a win at No. 1 singles immediately following his doubles match. He won in straight sets 6-2 and 6-1.
Salisbury and senior Johnny Grimal locked the win up for the Tigers with singles wins of their own.
The U of M turned their attention towards the No. 25 USF squad on Sunday. And in storybook fashion, the seniors-playing in their final home match-scored all four of the Tigers' points in route to the top-25 win.
Grimal and senior Ian Chadwell put the Tigers on the board with an 8-4 win in the No. 3 doubles slot. Memphis lost the No. 2 doubles match, but O'Hare and Salisbury rallied at No. 1 to secure the Tigers the doubles point with a tiebreak win.
Goebel thought the doubles point gave the Tigers some good energy moving into the singles.
"We started doubles playing well on all three courts," Goebel said. "It was nice to sneak that one out at number one in a tiebreaker, so that gave us some momentum. It was tough conditions out here, it was very windy, but the guys have played in that a lot this year and they enjoy competing, so they were really ready for that."
In singles, Salisbury finished first with a win at No. 2 to give Memphis a 2-0 lead over the Bulls. USF made it interesting with a win at No. 5, but Grimal and senior David O'Leary won their matches to give the Tigers a win in their final match of the regular season.
Although they will play the conference tournament in Memphis, Sunday's match marked the final time the seniors will dawn the Blue and Gray in front of the home crowd during the regular season.
This year's batch of seniors has accomplished a lot in their time at the U of M. The program was struggling when they arrived, but they won the Conference USA tournament last season and have a chance to repeat in the American this season.
Goebel said this group will certainly be missed.
"It's hard to talk about what this senior class has meant to this program in just a minute or so," Goebel said. "From taking this program where it was four years ago to winning the conference championships last season and advancing in the NCAA tournament to getting so many people supporting our program, they're going to be missed, but they've really had a great run here. It was nice that they ended the way they did here today with a win."
With the first seed, Memphis received a first-round bye, meaning their first match will be in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday. Should they win, the championship match will be on Sunday at noon.
Tournament matches begin on Friday at 9 a.m., and admission is free.
