April 14, 2003

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The University of Memphis women's tennis team will finish their 2003 season in either a tie for fifth place or a tie for seventh place following a 4-0 win over No. 8 seed UAB, Monday. The Lady Tigers improved their record to 16-7 overall, marking just the fifth time in school history that the Lady Tigers have hit the 16-win mark.

Memphis used a pair of doubles wins at No. 1 and No. 3 to go up 1-0 early in the match. The Lady Tigers then made short work of the Lady Blazers, winning the No. 1 singles match 6-1, 6-0 and the No. 5 singles match 6-3, 6-1. Senior Sumitra Rao clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles to advance the Lady Tigers to face Marquette at 9 a.m., Tuesday.

With the loss, UAB finishes tied for 11th with the University of South Florida, who lost to DePaul, 4-2, Monday. Also in the consolation bracket, Houston will face Louisville, who upended Memphis in the second round, in a battle for third place.

In the championship bracket, the top two seeds moved easily into the championship finals as No. 1 seed Tulane blanked No. 3 seed Houston, 4-0, while No. 2 seed TCU swept Louisville, 4-0. Both programs are nationally-ranked and Tulane has not given up a point yet with a pair of 4-0 wins, while Marquette wrestled one match away from TCU in a loss.

Memphis 4, UAB 0
Doubles
No. 1 - Lindemann/Gonzalez-Gordo (UM) def. Immele/deBoer, 8-3
No. 2 - Gruber/Feichtinger (UM) vs. Ernst/Maier-Knapp, DNF
No. 3 - Rao/Noble (UM) def. Moch/Dellarciprete, 8-3
Singles
No. 1 - Sabrina Lindemann (UM) def. Natasha Immele, 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 - Monica Gonzalez-Gordo (UM) vs. Femke de Boer, DNF
No. 3 - Sumitra Rao (UM) def. Yvonne Ernst, 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 - Viktoria Gruber (UM) vs. Ornischa Maier-Knapp, DNF
No. 5 - Andrea Feichtinger (UM) def. Julia Hoch, 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 - Kristin Noble (UM) vs. Nadia Dellarciprete, DNF

Tuesday Schedule
Championship Final: No. 1 Tulane vs. No. 2 TCU, Noon
Consolation Final: No. 3 Houston vs. No. 6 Louisville, Noon
For Tie for 5th Place: No. 4 Memphis vs. Winner Charlotte/Marquette, 9 a.m.
For Tie for 5th Place: No. 7 DePaul vs. Winner ECU/Cincinnati, 9 a.m.