April 20, 2006

DALLAS, Texas - The Thundering Herd tennis team arrived in Dallas Wednesday night in preparation for the Conference USA Tournament that began today with seeds six through 11 in action.

Marshall, ranked No. 55 in the nation, is the No. 2 seed in the tournament behind host school SMU. The Herd received one of five first round byes in the tourney and will face No. 7 seed Rice at 2 p.m., Friday at the Garland Tennis Center.

Rice knocked off No. 10 seed Southern Miss, Thursday in a 4-0 shutout to earn the shot at No. 2 Marshall.

The Herd is 18-6 on the year and comes into the C-USA Tournament on a five-match winning streak to end the regular season. Rice is 10-12 on the year, but has face 13 ranked foes including six in the ITA top 20.

The matchup will feature a trio of nationally ranked players when the Owls and Herd square off. Rice's Blair DiSesa is ranked No. 69 in the nation in singles play. For the Herd, Lynzee Kever and Kellie Schmitt are ranked No. 31 in the latest doubles ranking. The three are the only ranked players in Conference USA.

The winner of Friday's match will go on to face the winner of the other quarterfinal between No. 3 seed Houston and No. 6 East Carolina.

In other action on Thursday, East Carolina knocked off Memphis 4-0, UCF downed UTEP 4-0 and Rice downed Southern Miss 4-0.

After a day of practice, Marshall will have its annual end of the year banquet Thursday night in Dallas to celebrate the season to date before beginning play in the tournament Friday.