New Orleans, La. - Tulane, the top seed, and TCU the No. 2 seed, have advanced to the title match of the 2003 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship on Tuesday at noon (CST) at the Green Wave's Goldring Tennis Center. Both reached the finals by posting 4-0 team wins on Monday.

TCU, ranked 55th nationally, was first to reach the finals by defeating Louisville in opening match of the day.

The Horned Frog (11-9) duo of Paty Aburto/Rosa Perez, ranked 59th by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, defeated the U of L combination of Marie Louise Frolich-Hansen and Kelly Taylor, 8-2, to win the No. 1 doubles match. TCU captured the doubles point with an 8-2 victory at the No. 3 match by Gloriann Lopez and Karla Mancinas over Louisville's Paige Eber and Jasmin Singh.

In singles play, Perez secured the team win for TCU with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Taylor at No. 2 singles. Lopez topped Eber at No. 3 singles, 6-1, 6-3 and Mancinas defeated Melisa San Martin, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 4 singles.

Tulane, ranked 28th by the ITA, moved to 16-4 overall with the win. The Green Wave got off to an early 1-0 lead by winning on courts one and two to claim the opening doubles point. The Tulane tandem of Jenny Kuhn and Julie Smekodub, ranked ninth by the ITA, cruised to an 8-1 win over the Houston team of Foley and Terblance at the No. 1 spot. Maria Ivanov and Nancy Kockott clinched the doubles point for Tulane with their 8-5 victory over the Cougar duo of Miller and Longoni at the No. 3 spot.

Kockott was the first player off the court in singles play, giving Tulane a 2-0 lead with her 6-1, 6-1 win over Houston’s Sarah Flood on court 6. Freshman Erika Valdes, ranked 103rd by the ITA, increased Tulane’s lead to 3-0 with her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Terblance at the No. 4 spot. Ana Saaibi put the Green Wave into the championship match when she clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Kami Miller at the No. 5 spot.

Tuesday’s C-USA Tournament championship match will pit the winners of the last two titles against each other. TCU won the tournament last season, while Tulane won the 2001 championship. The two teams met earlier this season, with Tulane capturing a 5-2 win in Fort Worth.

Louisville (21-7) falls into the consolation bracket and will play Houston (12-9) for third place on Tuesday at noon (CST) the Dillard University Tennis Center.

In early play on Monday, the seventh seed DePaul upended the fifth seed South Florida 4-2. Later, Memphis, the No. 4 seed, eliminated UAB, the No. 8 seed, with a 4-0 victory.

The Blue Demons move on to East Carolina in the fifth-place match at 9 a.m. (CST) on Tuesday at the Dillard University Tennis Center. The Tigers will face Marquette, the No. 10 seed, at 9 a.m. (CST) at Tulane's Goldring Tennis Center.

DePaul(18-9) dropped the doubles point, but rallied back in singles play. The match-clinching win came at No. 6 singles as the Blue Demons' Megan Stewart posted a 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Belen Pandre. At No. 1 singles, DePaul's Szilvia Keleman defeated Fabiana Taverna, 6-1, 6-2. In the No. 3 singles contest, DePaul's Karen Falduto overcame a one-set deficit to post a 0-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over USF's Luisa Obando. Stephanie Matko rounded out the Blue Demon singles wins with a 6-0, 6-2 decision over Gina Craig. South Florida falls to 10-11.

Memphis (15-7) began the match by capturing the doubles point. Sabrina Lindemann and Monica Gonzalez-Gordo posted an 8-3 win over the Blazer duo of Natascha Immele and Femke deBoer at No. 1 doubles. The UM combination of Sumitra Rao and Kristin Noble tallied an 8-3 win over UAB's Julia Hoch and Nadia Dellarciprete at No. 3 doubles. UAB finishes with a 10-8 overall mark.

It would be Rao at No. 3 singles to clinch the win for the Tigers, posting a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Yvonne Ernst. Lindemann also garnered a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles over Immele. Andrea Feichtinger upended Hoch in the No. 5 singles match 6-3, 6-1.

Monday's action concluded with East Carolina, the No. 9 seed, and Marquette, the No. 10 seed both advancing to the fifth-place matches.

ECU advanced with a close 4-3 decision over Cincinnati, the No. 11 seed, at Tulane's Goldring Tennis Center.

Lyndall Jordan provided the heroics for the Pirates with her victory at No. 2 singles, defeating Lyndsey Molony, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to clinch the match. Also picking up singles victories for ECU was Paulina Siepinski over Cristina Reyes at No. 4 singles by the score of 6-2, 6-2 and Emily Kohl at No. 5 singles over Jill Klauk by a 6-4, 6-3 count.

ECU earned the doubles point by winning the No. 1 and 3 doubles contests.

The Pirates improve to 15-8 with the win and the Bearcats fall to 11-12.

Marquette advanced to the fifth-place match with a 4-1 win over Charlotte at the Dillard University Tennis Center.

MU's Gen Charron captured the team victory for the Golden Eagles by posting a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles over the 49ers' Lindsey Morris. Anabelle Espinosa also earned a win for MU in the No. 3 singles match with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Marilyn Clark. Veronica Briseno rounded out the Marquette singles victory with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Charlotte's Jennifer Hatch.

The Golden Eagles won the doubles point by winning the matches at No. 2 and 3 matches.

The Golden Eagles, the 10th seed, improve to 5-17, while Charlotte, the 12th seed, drops to 8-14.


Tuesday, April 15
Match 19 East Carolina vs. DePaul 9:00 a.m. Dillard
Match 20 Memphis vs. Marquette 9:00 a.m. Tulane
Match 21 Houston vs. Louisville 12:00 p.m. Dillard
Match 22 Tulane vs. TCU – Championship Match 12:00 p.m. Tulane