March 22, 2005

MEMPHIS, Tenn.-- - Senior Mark Finnegan (Kill, County Kildare, Ireland) was named the Conference USA men's tennis player of the week it was announced by the league office, Tuesday. Finnegan was 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles over last weekend, as the Tigers picked up a win at No. 32 South Alabama, 4-3, and a 6-1 victory over C-USA foe Southern Miss.

"Mark is playing some great tennis right now," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "His wins this weekend were big for us in getting a good win over a ranked opponent on the road."

Finnegan opened the weekend with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles in the win at ranked South Alabama. The senior followed that with a 7-5, 6-1 victory at No. 5 against USM's Reid Bourgeois.

In doubles, Finnegan and junior Alex Jago went 2-0 at No. 3 doubles, winning 8-6 over USM and 8-2 against USA. Finnegan improved to 6-8 on the season and to 11-4 in doubles.

Memphis is currently 8-9 on the season and 3-1 in Conference USA. The Tigers also broke into the ITA's national team rankings Tuesday at No. 66.

Finnegan is a transfer to the Tiger program after playing his freshman and sophomore years at Georgia Southern. As a freshman, he was named the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and was named the Team MVP. He suffered a shoulder injury prior to his first season in Memphis played mostly singles as a junior at Memphis, posting a 9-6 record in singles during last spring's dual matches. Finnegan is now 51-47 in singles during his collegiate career and is 32-31 in doubles. The Kill, County Kildare, Ireland native is 25-20 in singles as a Tiger and 17-9 in doubles.

Memphis opens a five-match home stand against Georgia State, Sunday.

This is the third weekly honor for the Tigers. The doubles team of James Spence (Christchurch, New Zealand) and Scott Felsenthal (Memphis, Tenn./White Station) won the first award, and senior Alex Bucewicz (Melbourne, Australia) earned the second weekly honor for the Tigers.