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Lee Taylor Walker Named to C-USA All-Decade Team
April 19, 2005 MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Current Tiger men's tennis assistant coach Lee Taylor Walker was voted to the Conference USA Men's Tennis All-Decade team in a poll of league coaches, Tuesday. Walker, who is currently in his first year as an assistant with his former team, capped a three-year Tiger career with a 54-43 record in singles and a 64-29 record in doubles. Memphis' first-ever C-USA First Team All-Conference honoree, Walker was also the first Tiger to earn a national singles ranking, finishing his career the No. 103 ranked player in the country. Off the court, the Jackson, Tenn. native (University School of Jackson) was the one collegiate men's tennis player who received the ITA/Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award. Walker traveled to New York last summer to receive his award as part of the 2004 U.S. Open festivities. A three-time member of the C-USA Academic Honor Roll, Walker transferred to Memphis from Clemson his sophomore season. He immediately teamed with Ben Stapp, and the doubles duo became the first-ever Tiger pairing to earn a national ranking, ranking as high as No. 12 in the country following a fall where they advanced to the finals of the Omni Hotels Region III Championships. Walker and first-year head coach Paul Goebel guided the Tigers to a No. 4 seed and a first-round bye for this weekend's Conference USA Championships, being hosted by Louisville. Memphis will face the winner of the USF/Marquette match at 5 p.m., Friday. The Tigers have not faced either team yet this season, but Memphis squeaked past USF last year in the C-USA Championships to advance to its first-ever C-USA semifinals. The Tigers are the No. 75 ranked team in the country heading into this weekend's matches. The winner of the C-USA tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. Memphis has never qualified for the team portion of the NCAA tournament. Sixty-four teams from NCAA Division I qualify for the championships, with the first two rounds being held at local sites. Tulane's Michael Kogan, who fell in the championship singles match at last year's NCAA tournament, was named the C-USA Athlete of the Decade. Tulane's Robert Klein was named the C-USA Men's Tennis Coach of the Decade after guiding Tulane to four C-USA Championships and eight straight NCAA tournaments. Conference USA Men's Tennis All-Decade Team
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Memphis Tigers
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