April 12, 2003

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The University of Memphis women's tennis team (15-6 overall) swept No. 14 seed Southern Mississippi, 4-0, in the first round of the Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship at Tulane, Saturday.

The Lady Tigers, seeded fourth in the championship tournament, won the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches easily, with the duo of senior Sabrina Lindemann and Monica Gonzalez-Gordo winning 8-2 at No. 1 over the team of Nikhila Narra and Olivia Berry. The No. 2 team of Viktoria Gruber and Andrea Feichtinger won their No. 2 match, 8-1, over the USM team of Katharina Sadofsky and Courtney Ulrich.

Memphis then won the No. 1, 2 and 4 singles matches to decide the match. With the match decided, the Lady Tigers did not finish the No. 3, 5 or 6 singles matches. Gonzalez-Gordo blanked her No. 2 opponent, 6-0, 6-0, and Gruber made it 3-0, Memphis, with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Amanda McClure at No. 4. Lindemann capped the victory with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 1 to decide the match.

With the win, the Lady Tigers move to 15-6 on the season. The 15 wins is the eighth-best single season win total in Lady Tiger history.

Memphis advances to face the Louisville at noon, Sunday. Louisville had to battle to get by No. 11 seed Cincinnati, 4-3.

In other C-USA action, No. 9 East Carolina upset No. 8 UAB, 4-1, to advance to face top-seeded Tulane, Sunday, at 3 p.m. No. 10 Marquette also posted an upset, with a 4-2 win over No. 7 seed DePaul. Marquette will face No. 2 seed TCU, Sunday, at noon. No. 3 seed Houston downed No. 13 seed Saint Louis, 4-1, to advance to the second round where they'll face South Florida.

Memphis 4, Southern Miss 0
Doubles
No. 1 - Lindemann/Gonzalez-Gordo (UM) def. Narra/Berry, 8-2
No. 2 - Gruber/Feichtinger (UM) def. Sadofsky/Ulrich, 8-1
No. 3 - Rao/Noble (UM) vs. Sibille/McClure, DNF
Singles
No. 1 - Sabrina Lindemann (UM) def. Nikhila Narra, 6-2, 7-5 (clinched match)
No. 2 - Monica Gonzalez-Gordo (UM) def. Katharina Sadofsky, 6-0, 6-0
No. 3 - Sumitra Rao (UM) vs. Olivia Berry, DNF
No. 4 - Viktoria Gruber (UM) def. Amanda McClure, 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 - Andrea Feichtinger (UM) vs. Jennifer Sibille, DNF
No. 6 - Kristin Noble (UM) vs. Courtney Ulrich, DNF