March 27, 2007

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Junior Amrit Narasimhan (Richmond, Texas/Tyler Junior College) earned his first career honor from Conference USA by being named the league's Player of the Week, Tuesday.

"Amrit has bounced back from a difficult fall season," Head Coach Paul Goebel. "He worked hard and rededicated himself in the off-season and worked extremely hard in November and December and he is playing like a high ranked singles player now. He is playing very confident at the moment and having a lot of fun in competition. He has been a good leader for the rest of our team."

Narasimhan was 4-0 last weekend, picking up a pair of wins at No. 1 singles and a pair of wins at No. 1 doubles with teammate Benedikt Fischer. Narasimhan, who is 11-4 in dual season singles, improved to 6-3 at No. 1 singles and has now won four straight matches atop the Tigers' singles line-up.

For the year, Narasimhan's list of opponents looks a lot like the FILA/ITA Singles rankings as he has faced a total of eight opponents who are listed in the most recent Top 125 singles players. His biggest win against a ranked opponent was a 7-5, 6-4 win over then-No. 32 Ivan Bjelica from Mississippi State.

Narasimhan and Fischer have also won two straight matches at No. 1 doubles, improving their season mark to 5-9 on the season. The duo is 13-15 overall for the year, including their 8-6 performance in doubles this fall.

Narasimhan becomes the first Tiger to earn C-USA Player of the Week honors during the spring dual season since Michael Jetter earned the award on Feb. 1st of last season.

The Tigers are idle from competition this week, but will close out their four-match home stand, beginning with a non-conference match against Southeastern Louisiana, next Tuesday. Memphis will then host Murray State, Wednesday, before closing out its C-USA regular season schedule against Southern Miss, Apr. 6th. Memphis will play its final home match of the season Apr. 11th against No. 72 UALR, Apr. 14th. All home matches are being played at Rhodes College in Memphis. Admission to the matches is free.