April 18, 2011

2011 C-USA Women's Tennis Championships Bracket

Championship Central

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis secured the No. 6 seed for the 2011 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championships and will face No. 11 seed UTEP to kick off the tournament. First serve is slated for 10 a.m. ET, on Thursday, April 21 at the Lake Cane Tennis Center in Orlando, Fla.

The Lady Tigers (15-9, 2-2 C-USA) and Miners have battled once this season, back on April 8 at The Racquet Club of Memphis, when the U of M knocked off the UTEP (6-13, 1-3 C-USA) in a 5-2 decision. For the rematch, Memphis will once again be anchored by sophomore Courtney Collins and junior Mariya Slupska.

Collins concluded the regular season at 17-6 in singles action and is coming off a convincing 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 2 singles over Tulsa's Ewa Szatkowska in the Lady Tigers' last outing, a 5-2 loss to the Golden Hurricane on April 15. Tulsa is this year's top seed and is currently ranked 20th in the nation.

Slupska will look to improve on her singles wins, as she currently leads the team with 18, after falling to 96th-ranked Alexandra Kichoutkin at No. 1 singles against TU.

Last season, the Blue and Gray entered the post-season as the No. 9 seed, and upended eighth-seeded Southern Miss 4-2 to advance out of the first round for the first time since 2005. Memphis then fell in the second round of play to top-seeded SMU, 4-0, to conclude the 2010 season.

The No. 6 seed is the highest seeding the team has attained since 2003, when it grabbed the No. 4 spot, and that still remains the highest in program history.