De Paul, Memphis, UAB, Southern Miss Win First Round C-USA Women's Tennis Championship Matches

Tampa, FL - In the twist of a knee, number 11 seed Saint Louis went from a potential first round upset of six seed DePaul, to a 5-2 defeat in the 2000 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship first round match at the University of South Florida.

Tenth-seeded Southern Mississippi did pull off an upset over number six Cincinnati, 5-3, and the Golden Eagles advance to meet host South Florida, Friday at 9 a.m. in the quarterfinals.

Number nine Memphis also won a first round match over number eight Louisville, 5-1, while number five UAB shut out number 12 UNC Charlotte.

With DePaul leading 3-2, all that remained in singles competition was the number one match, where Courtney Hague of Saint Louis had match point, up 5-1 in the third set. Hague twisted her right knee on that match point, and after a brief timeout, she double faulted twice in a row against DePaul's Barbara Fuzesi, before losing a third straight point and that game. Still up 5-2 in the third set, Hague, clearly slowed by the aching knee, defaulted after one point of the eighth game in the third set.

The default gave DePaul a 4-2 lead, and the Blue Demons closed out the win with an 8-2 victory in number one doubles.

In the Memphis-Louisville match, the Tigers made doubles play unnecessary with five wins in the six singles matches. Louisville's sole win came at number five singles, and only the number three singles match was extended to a third set.

UAB also closed out their match without having to play doubles. UAB earned all five wins in straight sets, and UNCC was able to win a total of just 15 games, five of those coming at number three singles alone

Southern Miss took four of six singles matches from Cincinnati, and nearly clinched the win in the singles. With a 4-1 lead, Caroline Weems extended Cincinnati's Jen Capuzzi to a third set, before Capuzzi won 6-4 in the final set to close the gap to 4-2. Cincinnati closed it even further with a 9-7 win in number three doubles, but Southern Miss clinched the upset with an 8-6 victory in number two doubles.

In quarterfinals action, Memphis will play number one seed Marquette, Friday at Noon, while DePaul advances to play number three Tulane at 9 a.m.. UAB will meet number four Houston at Noon, and Southern Mississippi will play host South Florida (#2) at 9 a.m.

In the consolation bracket, Louisville will play UNCC at 3 p.m., Friday, while Saint Louis will meet Cincinnati, also at 3 p.m., Friday.