April 27, 2000

Memphis, Tenn. -- - Freshman Ben Stapp (Sydney, Australia) has already made a mark on the Tiger tennis program and now looks to make a mark in Conference USA as well. The No. 4 singles player was named to the All Conference-USA second team by the league coaches, Thursday.

Stapp was the first Tiger to reach 10 singles victories this spring, and he led the team with 18 singles wins, including 14 at the No. 4 spot.

Stapp, who joined the Tigers in January, also teamed with fellow Aussie Alistair Todd (Perth, West Australia) for an impressive 20-6 record at No. 1 doubles. All six of the duo's losses came to nationally ranked opponents.

The freshman was the league's Player of the Week one time during the regular season and was 3-1 in his No. 4 singles matches and 4-0 in his doubles matches, including a win over the then No. 54 ranked UAB team of Alexander Jung/Tom Dalby, at the league championships.

The men's tennis team finished sixth at the Conference championships after being seeded eighth and falling to then No. 24 ranked UAB in the second round. Memphis recovered to upset No. 62 South Florida before falling to Southern Miss in the fifth-place match.

Conference USA has six teams ranked in the top 75 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Memphis was the only team that finished in the league's top seven that is not nationally ranked.

FIRST TEAM

Miikka Kangas, Southern Miss

Tvrtko Kujundzic, Louisville

Joachim Lien, Louisville

Dennis Lundberg, Tulane

Fabio Tintori, South Florida

Martin Woisetschlager, UAB

SECOND TEAM

John Cheregi, DePaul

Brent McCombe, Louisville

Jacob Nordwall, UNC Charlotte

Ben Stapp, Memphis

Kolie Van Zyl, UAB

Mikko Viljanen, Tulane

THIRD TEAM

Boris Babic, South Florida

Tom Dalby, UAB

Ola Jonsson, UNC Charlotte

Alex Jung, UAB

Peter Mojzis, Marquette

Aleks Popovic, South Florida

PLAYER OF THE YEAR -Martin Woisetschlager, UAB

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR -Joachim Lien, Louisville

COACH OF THE YEAR -Rex Ecarma, Louisville