April 22, 2005

FT. WORTH, TEXAS - The University of Memphis women's tennis team (6-13) advanced in the consolation bracket at the Conference USA Women's Tennis Championships with a 4-0 win over Saint Louis, Friday.

Saint Louis came into the tournament with just four healthy players, thereby forfeiting the No. 3 doubles match to start the match. Memphis claimed the first point as the No. 2 doubles team of Andrea Feichtinger and Alex Tjioe downed the team of Tina Grasso and Tara Grant, 8-4, to put Memphis ahead 1-0.

The score quickly jumped to 3-0 Memphis, as Saint Louis had to default the No. 5 and 6 matches to the Lady Tigers, and when Germantown's Kristin Noble wrapped up a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Grasso at No. 4 singles to close out the match. It's the second match-deciding victory Noble has had in her three-year Lady Tiger career, as she clinched the deciding match in a win over Marquette two years ago as a freshman.

The Lady Tigers will advance to a Friday evening match against No. 8 seed Southern Miss at 6 p.m. The winner of that match will play for ninth place in the league standings, while the losing team will tie for 11th with the losing team of the Charlotte/Cincinnati match.

No. 12 seed Memphis 4, No. 14 seed Saint Louis 0
Doubles
No. 1 - Marlene Dirnstorfer / Brooke Cowie (UM) led Amanda Hellberg / Rachel McCullagh, 5-4, dnf
No. 2 - Andrea Feichtinger / Alex Tjioe (UM) def. Tara Grant / Tina Grasso, 8-4
No. 3 - Kristin Noble / Christina Wieser (UM) received a default
Singles
No. 1 - Amanda Hellberg led Marlene Dirnstorfer (UM), 5-4, dnf
No. 2 - Andrea Feichtinger (UM) led Tara Grant, 6-2, 2-1, dnf
No. 3 - Brooke Cowie (UM) led Rachel McCullagh, 6-4, 2-1
No. 4 - Kristin Noble (UM) def. Tina Grasso, 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 - Christina Wieser (UM) received a default
No. 6 - Alex Tjioe (UM) received a default