March 15, 2007

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis women's tennis team (1-7, 0-3 C-USA) will venture west for a pair of matches, including a Conference USA match-up at UTEP. The two-match trip will begin however in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where the Lady Tigers will take on New Mexico State, Saturday, beginning at noon.

Memphis is looking to snap a four-match losing streak that includes three losses in league play. The Lady Tigers have been swept in all four of those losses, losing to three-time NAIA defending champion Auburn-Montgomery, then falling to UAB, Houston and Southern Miss.

New Mexico State is also coming in to the Saturday non-conference match off a shut-out, falling to Utah, 7-0, dropping the Aggies mark to 6-10 on the season. Like Memphis, the Aggies are coming off a bye week, but New Mexico State will have one more match under its belt before the Lady Tigers get to town, as they will host UTEP, Friday at 2 p.m.

UTEP is 6-7 on the season heading in to the Conference USA match-up with Memphis and the Miners have won five of their last seven matches after going 1-5 to open the season. The Miners were the No. 9 seed in last year's Conference USA tournament and have a roster made up of just one senior and nine underclassmen that are either freshmen or sophomores.

This weekend's two matches on the road are the first of a seven-game road swing for the Lady Tigers, which will make its next stops in Florida. Following the road swing, the Lady Tigers will play at Arkansas State and Southern Illinois to close out their regular season road schedule. The Arkansas State match was moved to Mar. 29th in Jonesboro because of Lady Tiger classroom attendance.

Memphis will close its 2006-07 regular season with four home matches in April. Those matches are all tentatively slated to be played at Rhodes College.