April 15, 2000

Hattiesburg, Miss.-- - The University of Memphis (16-14) men's tennis team advanced to the fifth-place match of the Conference USA Championship with a 4-3 upset of No. 4 seeded South Florida, Saturday. South Florida, one of six Conference USA schools ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's top-75 poll, was ranked No. 62 in the latest poll released Wednesday.

The Tigers, who were seeded eighth, swept the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. The doubles point helped the Tigers win the match since they tied USF 3-3 in singles play.

The No. 1 team of Alistair Todd (Perth, West Australia) and Ben Stapp (Sydney, Australia) earned their 19th win with an 8-2 victory over the team of Fabio Tintori and Eric Gildhorn. Junior Jack Hu (Nashville, TN/Hillsboro) and sophomore Michael LaHaie (Lafayette, Ind./Lafayette) won their No. 3 doubles match, 8-5.

Sophomore Richard Magney (Sydney, Australia) upended another nationally-ranked opponent with a 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4 win over No. 64 ranked Fabio Tintori at No. 1 singles. Tintori's doubles partner, Gildhorn, also fell when Stapp won his No. 4 singles match, 6-2, 7-5.

Junior Chris Buckley (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) battled to secure the Tiger win with a 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles.

Memphis now waits for the winner of the UNC Charlotte and No. 66 Southern Miss match which started at 3 p.m. Memphis has not faced UNC Charlotte this year and lost to Southern Miss, 4-3, back in February.

The championship bracket contains four of the six nationally-ranked teams in the league--No. 24 UAB, No. 38 Tulane, No. 48 Louisville and No. 53 DePaul.

MEMPHIS 4, No. 62 South Florida 3

SINGLES

No. 1 Richard Magney (UM, 10-15) def. No. 64 Fabio Tintori, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-4

No. 2 Boris Babic def. Daniel Demacek (UM, 12-10), 5-7, 6-2, 7-5

No. 3 Aleks Popovich def. Alistair Todd (UM, 12-13), 6-4, 7-6 (6)

No. 4 Ben Stapp (UM, 17-11) def. Eric Gildhorn, 6-2, 7-5

No. 5 Jit Shah def. Jack Hu (UM, 13-13), 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

No. 6 Chris Buckley (UM, 12-7) def. Ernest Diaz, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-0

DOUBLES

No. 1 Stapp/Todd (UM, 19-6) def. Tintori/Gildhorn, 8-2

No. 2 Popovic/Babic def. Buckley/Magney (UM, 6-7), 8-4

No. 3 Hu/Michael LaHaie (UM, 8-4) def. Naser/Shah, 8-5

SUNDAY SCHEDULE

Championship Match - 1 p.m. -

Winner No. 25 UAB/No. 53 DePaul vs. Winner No. 38 Tulane/No. 48 Louisville

Third Place Match - 9 a.m. -

Loser UAB/DePaul vs. Loser Tulane/Louisville

Fifth Place Match - Noon -

MEMPHIS vs. Winner UNC Charlotte/Southern Miss

Seventh Place Match - Noon -

South Florida vs. Loser UNC Charlotte/Southern Miss

Results of Ninth-Place Match

Marquette 4, Saint Louis 1