The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Tennis Opens C-USA Championship Play
4/19/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 19, 2012
Tournament Bracket 
| Championship Central
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB men's tennis team has turned in one of its best seasons in recent history, registering its most wins in 12 years and finding a spot in the ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) national rankings since February.
But when the Blazers take the court Friday morning in its quarterfinal match at the Conference USA Championship in Orlando, Fla., they will be looking to bounce back from its toughest week of the season.
UAB (16-8, 3-2 C-USA) entered last week with a 16-4 record as they looked ahead to matches against four ranked opponents (Middle Tennessee, Alabama, South Alabama and Memphis). The opportunity to enhance its record and move up in the rankings went awry for the Blazers as they dropped four matches in six days, three of those contests coming at home.
"It was definitely a tough week for us," said UAB head coach Derek Tarr, whose team had won 9-of-10 matches prior to the recent losing streak. "All of those teams were quality teams as the rankings show, but we certainly didn't play our best tennis of the season and know we can play a lot better.
"I think our guys will be motivated to play (in the C-USA Championship) this week," Tarr said. "We're happy to be seeded fourth and looking forward to playing Tulane."
UAB will put its No. 4 seed on the line against the fifth-seeded Green Wave (12-10, 3-5 C-USA) Friday at 11:00 a.m. ET/10:00 a.m. CT at the UCF Tennis Complex. The two teams played in late March with the Blazers prevailing 4-1 in Birmingham despite losing the doubles point.
UAB was 12-1 in matches this season when it won the doubles point and only 1-7 when losing it, that victory coming against Tulane. Overall, UAB is 39-24 in doubles this spring.
"Tulane has a good team and we really had to battle to win the first time we played," Tarr said. "When we lost the doubles point," Tarr said, "we found ourselves in unfamiliar territory, but the guys responded well and we were able to pull out the match."
The winner of the UAB/Tulane match will advance to Saturday's semifinal round to play the winner of the Friday match between top-seeded Tulsa and No. 9 seed UCF. The Golden Hurricane has dominated the conference tournament recently, winning five of the past six league titles.
Senior Daniel Moser leads the Blazers in singles wins with a 14-6 record heading into this weekend's conference championship. He is 13-6 at No. 4 singles. Sophomore Chris Helliar is 13-8 at the No. 3 position. In doubles, Moser and partner Danny Manlow have compiled the best record with a 15-6 mark, primarily at the No. 2 spot.
Tulsa will again enter the championship as the pre-tourney favorite as the Golden Hurricane holds the highest ITA rank (No. 23) among C-USA teams. UAB (No. 75) is one of four league teams listed in this week's ITA rankings with Memphis (No. 33) and Rice (No. 75) also ranked.
For more information on the 2012 C-USA Men's Tennis Championship, fans can visit the Championship Central page.
2012 C-USA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
UCF TENNIS COMPLEX / ORLANDO, FLA.
FIRST ROUND - Thursday, April 19
Match 1: (9) UCF def. (8) East Carolina, 4-0
QUARTERFINALS - Friday, April 20
Match 2: (1) Tulsa vs. winner of Match 1 - 7 a.m.
Match 3: (4) UAB vs. (5) Tulane - 10 a.m.
Match 4: (2) Memphis vs. (7) Southern Miss - 1 p.m.
Match 5: (3) Rice vs. (6) SMU - 4 p.m.
SEMIFINALS - Saturday, April 21
Match 6: winner of Match 2 vs. winner of Match 3 - 11 a.m.
Match 7: winner of Match 4 vs. winner of Match 5 - 2 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Sunday, April 22
Match 8: winner of Match 6 vs. winner of Match 7 (FSN) - 11 a.m.
Times listed are Central Time
