Men's Tennis to Host South Alabama
January 25, 2007 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 25, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - - The 29th-ranked University of Louisville men's tennis team will play host to No. 46 South Alabama Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
The Cardinals (3-0) opened their home season last weekend by defeating Birmingham-Southern 7-0 and No. 55 Western Michigan 5-2. U of L is led in singles by senior Slavko Radman who is No. 71 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Radman has an 8-4 record and is 2-0 as the Cards' top seed. Sophomore Robert Rotaru has posted a 12-6 overall record in singles and is 3-0 in dual matches playing at No. 3 and 4. Radman and senior Damar Johnson are No. 24 in the ITA doubles rankings and have compiled an 11-3 record, including a 2-0 mark in the No. 1 slot.
This is the first match of the spring season for South Alabama whose lineup features sophomore Marek Sramek, No. 20 in the ITA singles rankings. Senior Dias Doskarayev and junior R.J. Nagel are No. 33 in the ITA doubles rankings.
"South Alabama is so talented that they can beat any team at any time," said U of L coach Rex Ecarma. "We have to be extremely prepared for them because this could be one of our toughest matches of the year. We could have easily lost to them last year, but Jhonny Berrido's heroics gave us the 4-3 win in the semifinals of the HEB tournament. Our seniors know what we're up against and hopefully our new starters will feed off of them."
In conjunction with the South Alabama match, Louisville will also honor former Cardinal Cody Conley who will be included in the `Best of the Best' - the U of L tennis hall of fame. Conley played for the Cards from 2000-03 and was a member of the 2000 Conference USA championship team and NCAA participant. Conley was ranked as high as No. 53 in singles and No. 13 in doubles. He is tied for fifth on the school's all-time singles wins list with 90 and tied for fourth with 86 doubles wins.
