April 18, 2005

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's tennis team earned a No. 4 seed and a first-round bye for the upcoming Conference USA men's tennis championships, beginning Thursday. The Tigers will face the winner of the No. 6 USF/No. 11 Marquette match at 5 p.m., Friday, at Louisville.

"Our team has had an excellent last few weeks and has a lot of momentum heading into this tournament," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "We look forward to playing either USF or Marquette. We're feeling good and just have to show up and be ready to play."

The Green Wave of Tulane received the league's top seed, and will face the winner of the No. 7 DePaul/No. 10 East Carolina match at 2 p.m. Friday. The winner of that match faces the winner of the Memphis vs. USF/Marquette bracket at noon on Saturday.

TCU was the No. 2 seed for the tournament, and will play the winner of the No. 8 Southern Miss/No. 9 Charlotte match at 11 a.m., Friday, while host Louisville was the No. 3 seed, and will face the winner of the No. 5 UAB/No. 12 Saint Louis match at 8 a.m. Friday to open the tournament.

The last time the Tigers were seeded fourth in the tournament was in 2001-02, when the then-No. 64 Tigers were upset in two matches at the tournament by No. 5 seed, and again host Louisville, then by No. 7 seed DePaul to finish seventh, the program's worst conference tournament finish in seven seasons. Current Tiger Alex Bucewicz was a freshman on that squad. Current Tiger assistant coach Lee Taylor Walker was also a part of the 2001-02 team that finished seventh at Louisville.

C-USA Men's Tennis Championships
Thursday
Match 1 - No. 8 Southern Miss vs. No. 9 Charlotte, 8 a.m.
Match 2 - No. 5 UAB vs. No. 12 Saint Louis, 11 a.m.
Match 3 - No. 6 USF vs. No. 11 Marquette, 2 p.m.
Match 4 - No. 7 DePaul vs. No. 10 East Carolina, 5 p.m.
Friday
Match 5 - No. 3 Louisville vs. winner UAB/SLU, 8 a.m. (Loser Match 5, Fifth Place Tie)
Match 6 - No. 2 TCU vs. winner USM/Charlotte, 11 a.m. (Loser Match 6, Fifth Place Tie)
Match 7 - No. 1 Tulane vs. winner DePaul/ECU, 2 p.m. (Loser Match 7, Fifth Place Tie)
Match 8 - No. 4 Memphis vs. winner USF/Marquette, 5 p.m. (Loser match 8, Fifth Place Tie)
Match 9 - Loser USF/Marquette vs. Loser DePaul/ECU, noon (alternate site)
Match 10 - Loser USM/Charlotte vs. Loser UAB/SLU, 9 a.m., (alternate site)
Saturday
Match 11 - Winner Match 7 vs. Winner Match 8, Noon (Loser Match 11, Third Place Tie)
Match 12 - Winner match 9 vs. Winner Match 10, 3 p.m. (Ninth Place Match)
Match 13 - Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6, 9 a.m. (Loser Match 13, Third Place Tie)
Sunday
Championship Match - Winner Match 11 vs. Winner Match 13, 11 a.m.