April 15, 2003

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Freshman Kristin Noble, a graduate of Houston High School and a TSSAA state singles champion, battled back to clinch her No. 6 singles matches in three sets in the final match of the Lady Tigers' season, Tuesday. With the 4-3 win, Memphis finishes its season 17-7 overall. The 17-wins is the fifth-highest win total in Lady Tiger history.

Playing just her seventh match at No. 6 singles due to an injury to junior Marlene Dirnstorfer, Noble won her opening set over Marquette's Alexandra Stankovic, 6-2, but Stankovic bounced back to take a close second set, 7-5. But Noble came out in the third and dominated the set, 6-2, to clinch the victory for the Lady Tigers, allowing them to finish in a tie for fifth place on the last day of the Conference USA Championships.

"I'm very proud of the team," Head Coach Charlotte Peterson said. "We played hard today, this was a really tough and hard-fought match."

Memphis took a 1-0 lead early when seniors Sabrina Lindemann and Monica Gonzalez-Gordo won the No. 1 doubles match, 8-2, and when Noble and senior Sumitra Rao won the No. 3 doubles match, 8-5.

The lead stretched to 3-0, Memphis, following the win in doubles and wins from seniors Rao and Gonzalez-Gordo, but Marquette answered back with wins at No. 5, 1 and 4 singles, respectively, to tie the match at three apiece, leaving the No. 6 match between Noble and Stankovic to decide the match.

The match is the last of three distinguished Lady Tiger tennis careers. Lindemann, a two-time all-conference honoree, Gonzalez-Gordo, an all-conference honoree in her only other year as a Lady Tiger, and Rao, who has battled injuries the past two seasons, have all completed their eligibility with the 2003 season. Lindemann has already completed her undergraduate degree and is in her second semester as a master's degree student at The U of M.

Memphis 4, Marquette 3
Doubles
No. 1 - Lindemann/Gonzalez-Gordo (UM) def. Charron/Briseno, 8-2
No. 2 - Feichtinger/Gruber vs. Trujillo/Espinosa, DNF
No. 3 - Rao/Noble (UM) def. Stankovic/Mojzis, 8-5
Singles
No. 1 - Mojzis def. Sabrina Lindemann (UM), 6-4, 7-6
No. 2 - Monica Gonzalez-Gordo (UM) def. Eva Trujillo, 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 - Sumitra Rao (UM) def. Annabelle Espinosa, 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 - Veronica Briesno def. Viktoria Gruber (UM), 6-7, 6-1, 6-3
No. 5 - Gen Charron def. Andrea Feichtinger (UM), 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 - Kristin Noble (UM) def. Alexandra Stankovic, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 clinched match