April 16, 2000

Hattiesburg, Miss.-- - The University of Memphis men's tennis team (16-15) finished its season with a 4-2 loss to Southern Miss in the fifth-place match at the Conference USA Championships, Sunday.

The Tigers again claimed the team doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3 singles. Southern Miss claimed a 4-1 advantage in the five singles matches played, including a default at No. 1.

Freshman Ben Stapp (Sydney, Australia) was the only Tiger to win his singles match, winning the opening set 6-0 over his No. 4 opponent Mathias Werren. Werren came back to win the second set 6-4, but Stapp outlasted his USM opponent with a 6-3 third set win.

Stapp also teamed with Alistair Todd (Perth, West Australia) for their 20th win at the No. 1 doubles spot. The duo downed the team of Daniel Homedes and Miikka Kangas in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (2).

Memphis finished in sixth place in the league after being seeded eighth heading into the tournament. The Tigers finished fifth last year after being seeded eighth.

SOUTHERN MISS 4, Memphis 2

SINGLES

No. 1 Mikka Kangas def. Richard Magney (UM, 10-16), by default

No. 2 David Jansson def. Daniel Demacek (UM, 12-11), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

No. 3 Daniel Homedes def. Alistair Todd (UM, 12-14), 7-5, 6-3

No. 4 Ben Stapp (UM, 14-8) def. Mathias Werren, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3

No. 5 DNF

No. 6 Uwe Gneiting def. Chris Buckley (UM, 12-8), 6-3, 6-3

DOUBLES

No. 1 Stapp/Todd (UM, 20-6) def. Homedes/Kangas, 9-8 (2)

No. 2 Jansson/Werren def. Buckley/Magney (UM, 6-8)

No. 3 Jack Hu/Michael LaHaie (UM, 9-4) def. Suprunov/Gneiting, 8-4

C-USA Championship Results

Championship Match - No. 48 Louisville 4, No. 24 UAB 3

Third Place Match - No. 38 Tulane 4, No. 53 DePaul 0

Fifth Place Match - No. 66 Southern Miss 4, Memphis 2

Seventh Place Match - No. 62 South Florida 4, UNC Charlotte 2

Ninth Place Match - Marquette 4, Saint Louis 1