University of South Florida
Jacksonville
No. 31 Bulls Post Second Straight 7-0 Win At Home
February 11, 2007 | Women's Tennis
TAMPA, Fla. (February 11, 2007) ? Despite straight set victories at each position, the University of South Florida women's tennis team fought hard for every point against Jacksonville University, Sun. afternoon at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.
The Bulls stayed perfect at home in the second match in as many days with each of the teams' ranked players earning victories.
The No. 22 doubles team of Shadisha Robinson and Gabriela Duch got past Emese Sulyos and Lena Willi 8-3 in the first spot to earn their third victory in as many chances on the year.
Singles play saw Iciri Rai blank Cristina Paiva-Flor 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 and Liz Cruz take her match at No. 4 by default when Iva Jaresova suffered an injury. The Bulls (2-1) would have few easy points beyond that.
Both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots featured marathon matches as Courtney Vernon again tried to improve her singles ranking by taking on Sulyos in the top spot. The junior earned her second victory in as many tries, 6-4, 6-4, but not after numerous exhausting volleys with the Dolphins' senior.
Robinson, again playing from the second position, also saw tough competition from JU's Willi. She took her first set after a tie-break and also battled through several long volleys to claim the decisive frame 6-2.
“I thought we competed very well today,” said head coach Agustin Moreno. “These were two tough teams to start with, but I can just feel that this is going to be a good season for us.”
The Bulls will host UCF Thu., Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. before taking to the road for matches against top-20 teams Kentucky and Virginia Commonwealth. Admission to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts is free.
USF 7, JU 0
Doubles
1) #22 Robinson/Duch (USF) def. Sulyos/Willi (JU) 8-3
2) Vernon/Sweeting (USF) def. Soldatova/Jaresova (JU) 8-4
3) Cruz/Rai (USF) def. Carrero/Paiva-Flor (JU) 8-1
Singles
1) #54 Courtney Vernon (USF) def. Emese Sulyos (JU) 6-4, 6-4
2) #10 Shadisha Robinson (USF) def. Lena Willi (JU) 7-6(4), 6-2
3) Jessica Sweeting (USF) def. Tatiana Soldatova (JU) 6-0, 6-2
4) Liz Cruz (USF) def. Iva Jaresova (JU) 3-4 (ret.)
5) Gabriela Duch (USF) def. Fernanda Carrero (JU) 6-2, 7-5
6) Iciri Rai (USF) def. Cristina Paiva-Flor (JU) 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6,4,3,5,1,2
USF: 2-1 JU: 2-3
