U of M tennis on upswing as AAC tourney opens

The rapid rise of the University of Memphis men’s tennis program — not unlike the trajectory of a well-executed lob — had its beginnings four years ago.

Tiger coach Paul Goebel said goodbye to a seniorladen group, giving him the flexibility to assemble the foundation of a team that would set numerous firsts, from conference titles and top 20 national rankings to a deep NCAA tournament run.

“We brought in f ive players at the same time,” Goebel said. “Sometimes, it’s not fun when you have to recruit a whole new team, but for us, it worked.”

Goebel said a major selling point was the program’s move from campus to The Racquet Club, the privately owned East Memphis facility.

“We spent a lot of time on recruiting that year and brought in five really good players,” Goebel said. “That’s when we felt we could really make a jump in the rankings and everything else.”

When the Tigers, the nation’s 21st-ranked team, open play in the American Athletic Conference tournament Saturday at The Racquet Club, it will be as the top seed. First-round play starts Thursday at 9 a.m. with No. 2 seed South Florida, ranked 26th nationally, playing UConn. Memphis (13-4) earned a first-round bye and plays at 2 p.m. Saturday. The finals will be Sunday at noon.

The core group that joined the U of M program in 2010-11 consisted of Ireland’s David O’Hare, Spain’s Johnny Grimal, Belgium’s Cedric De Zutter and a duo from England: David O’Leary and Joe Salisbury. A year later, Connor Glennon, also from England, was added. Glennon plays No. 1 singles and is ranked 62nd nationally.

“Connor came because he saw these other five that we had and he knew they were young and would be here for a while,” Goebel said. “I think he wanted to be a part of that, too.”

Glennon has enjoyed being part of the program’s rise. He said winning a league tournament title last year and going to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament is motivation to keep the momentum alive.

“That high of winning the conference and going to the NCAA, every guy on the team wants that feeling again,” Glennon said. “We all want that feeling of being in that environment and feeling the excitement from the crowd.”

With the team’s success, Goebel said he has taken more phone calls and answered more emails and texts, mostly from nationally prominent programs. Goebel said 10 nationally ranked teams will play in Memphis next season, including Baylor and Oklahoma, perennial top-five outfits. A few years ago, he couldn’t get any topranked program to visit.

“The culture of the program, and the national re- spect for the program, has really changed over these past four years,” Goebel said. “The types of teams that are calling and wanting to play us are the elite teams in college tennis.

“There were some teams and players before this group that worked really hard to keep our program going in the right direction, but this is the group that took us to that level. I knew we were a diamond in the rough.”

O’Hare will finish his career, along with the other seniors, aware they have been agents of change.

“What’s become routine for us was a huge deal back then,” O’Hare said. “Back then I didn’t think it would be possible.”

What has transpired during those four seasons has been the rise of the U of M program, now a fixture in the top 30.

Despite the mass exodus of the seniors after this season, Goebel isn’t expecting a major drop-off.

“In fact,” he said. “I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t sustain this level.”