Currently on a seven-game winning streak, it’s safe to say the University of Memphis men’s tennis team is playing their best tennis of the year at the most important time of the season.
The Tigers (13-6, 3-0 American Athletic Conference) will try to add to their winning streak this weekend when they travel to Tampa, Florida, to face the no. 19 University of South Florida Bulls on Friday, their second to last match of the regular season.
Memphis tennis coach Paul Goebel said there is always incentive to win on the road.
"If you win on the road, you get bonus points in college tennis,” Goebel said. “They do that for a reason, because it's very hard to win on the road and our conference matches are never easy. USF is the defending conference champions and are going to go in to our conference tournament the number one or two seed.”
He said USF’s experience will make this a tough match for the Tigers.
“They have a lot of players returning from last year, so we kind of know what to expect, but our guys have really been working hard and we're looking forward to this match a lot,” Goebel said. “It's going to be a tough test."
The match at USF will be a rematch of the AAC tournament finals last season. Memphis fell to the Bulls in the championship round, 4-3.
Memphis will hope to improve their record against top-25 teams this weekend. The Tigers are only 1-4 against top-25 ranked teams so far this season. However, two of their three conference wins this year are against teams ranked above them in the most recent ITA rankings (No. 39 Tulane, W, 4-2; No. 44 SMU, W, 4-2). Memphis is currently ranked no. 46 as of April 7.
Two players the Tigers will lean on to continue their strong seasons are freshman Andrew Watson and senior Connor Glennon.
Watson has won his last seven matches and is 25-12 in singles competition this season, tying former Tiger Joe Salisbury for the single season record of most wins in a season. Watson is also the only freshman currently ranked nationally from the AAC at no. 62.
The elder statesman of the Tigers tennis team, Glennon is having another strong campaign. The no. 51 singles player in the nation is 12-3 in singles play this season, and will hope he can finish the season on a high note in his final campaign as a Tiger.
Looking down the road, six teams in the AAC are ranked in the ITA rankings. Goebel said it makes this year’s AAC Tournament pretty open.
"I think this year might be the best it's ever been for our conference," Goebel said. "A lot of teams are beating each other trying to get in position. Right now, we have six nationally-ranked teams, it's a pretty wide open tournament and I think it's gonna be who's playing well that week and that's kind of what we've been preparing for."
The Tigers and Bulls will clash Friday at 3 p.m., after Memphis will travel to the University of Central Florida to take on the Knights in their final game of the regular season on Sunday.
Tiger senior Connor Glennon is 12-3 in singles competition this season. He is ranked no. 51 in the nation. Photo by Lance Murphey
