The University of Memphis women's tennis team (14-6, 4-1 C-USA)earned the No. 4 seed heading into the Conference USA women'stennis championship, Saturday, in New Orleans. The Lady Tigers willopen Saturday at noon against Southern Miss, with the winneradvancing to face the winner of the Louisville/Cincinnati match atnoon, Sunday.
The No. 4 seed is the highest seed for the Lady Tigers in recenthistory. Memphis' 14-6 record is the eighth-best single season wintotal in Lady Tiger history. The Lady Tigers are led by a trio ofseniors -- Sabrina Lindemann, Monica Gonzalez-Gordo and SumitraRao. Memphis has also been bolstered by the additions of newcomersViktoria Gruber, Marlene Dirnstorfer, Andrea Feichtinger andKristin Noble. The Memphis newcomers are 43-16 in spring dualmatches, and Feichtinger leads the team with a 16-3 singles mark,including an 8-1 record at No. 6 and a 6-1 record at No. 5.
"When we finished second in the conference tournament, we playedindividual flights, so this is the highest we have ever been seededas a team," head coach Charlotte Peterson said. "I'm elated andvery proud of the team for all the hard work they've done."
No. 28 Tulane is the top seed for the tournament and is one oftwo teams that will receive a first-round bye in the tournament.No. 55 TCU is the No. 2 seed and will receive the other bye. Tulanewill face the winner of the UAB/East Carolina match, while TCUfaces the winner of the DePaul/Marquette match-up.
Memphis finished 10th at the C-USA Championships last season,after struggling to a 5-14 record during the regular season.Memphis lost its first round match-up to Cincinnati, 4-1, then waseliminated by South Florida, 4-1, in the consolation round.
