Golden Eagle tennis team downed by No. 58 Memphis
Alex Chen claimed a win at the No. 1 singles spot for the second week in a row, but it was the lone point for Tennessee Tech as No. 58 Memphis defeated the Golden Eagles, 6-1, Friday night.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Golden Eagle tennis team finished its third match of the spring season with a 6-1 loss to 58th ranked Memphis Friday night.
Junior Alex Chen was the lone winner for Tech, earning a point at the No. one singles position with two tiebreakers over David Henry, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3). It was his second straight win after defeating Shaun Waters from Middle Tennessee last weekend.
Tech fell in all three doubles contests to start out the match. Josh Girling (photo above) and Vasily Eremeev fell 8-2 in the No. 1 spot, Lloyd Harris and James Crawford had an 8-5 loss at number two and Justin Kirstein and Chen lost 8-5 at No. 3.
"They were rock solid," senior Lloyd Harris said about Memphis.
Apart from Chen, Tech was only able to grab a few games off of Memphis' squad. Girling, playing in the two position was defeated 6-2, 6-2. Kirstein fell 2-0 at the three position for Tech.
"He was very good indoors," Kirstein said, "very aggressive."
Eremeev lost 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4 and Harris was defeated 6-1, 6-3.
Crawford had a close first set, falling 7-5 at the number five position, but lost in the second, 6-2.
The Golden Eagles are off to a tough start, having played three strong foes at the start of their season, including 39th ranked Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee and 58th ranked Memphis.
Tech will take its experience from these matches with them into next Saturday's match against UT-Chattanooga. Tech will play at Chatanooga at noon.
