Dec. 2, 2004

AMHERST, Mass. -- University of Massachusetts women's tennis sophomore Michele Spiess (Stuttgart, Germany) has been ranked 29th in the Northeast Region for singles play by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Spiess is the third-highest of four players in the Atlantic 10 Conference to be ranked in the top 30 in the region.

Spiess, a transfer from the University of Louisville, had a 9-1 overall singles record this past fall season. She began her UMass career by winning the No. 1 singles title at the Eastern Collegiate Invitational played at the The Lichtenberg and Malek Tennis Centers at the United States Military Academy, Sept. 17-19. For her efforts, she was named the Dinn Brothers/UMass Athlete of the Week on Sept. 21. Spiess, seeded fourth, upended fifth-seeded Christine Ong of Army in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to claim the No. 1 singles title. She did not lose a set the entire weekend as she breezed through the top singles flight. Spiess lost only 13 games in her 16 sets.

Spiess went undefeated (3-0) in the Minutewomen's three dual matches of the fall season against Amherst, UConn and Williams. She then went 2-1 at the ITA Regional Championship, Oct. 22-24, in Philadelphia. In the main singles draw, Spiess won two matches before falling to Julia Koulbitskaya of Penn, 7-5, 6-2. Spiess had defeated Albany's Courtney Michels (6-1, 6-1) and Beatrice Grasu of Richmond (6-3, 6-3).

Spiess and the Minutewomen will open up play this spring by hosting St. John's on Feb. 4, 2005, at 12:30 p.m.