TAMPA, Fla. (February 28, 2007) ? Fresh off of one of the biggest wins in program history over No. 14 VCU on Sunday, the University of South Florida women's tennis team (4-2) received a ranking of No. 27 in the nation, according to the most recent ITA/FILA poll. Since the emergence of the poll in 2000, the ranking is the
highest the team has ever received.
The Bulls garnered a preseason rank of No. 33 in the weekly poll and reached as high as No. 30 on Feb. 13. The current rank is second in the BIG EAST to No. 2 Notre Dame.
“It's great to always see improvement with the program,” said head coach Agustin Moreno. “As long as we can keep team unity, we can achieve even higher goals and standards.”
Four singles wins propelled the Bulls to a 4-2 win over the highly-ranked Rams on Feb. 25 on their home court in Richmond, Va. USF's weekend road trip also included a contest at No. 30 Kentucky, which the team dropped 5-2.
USF senior Shadisha Robinson, who carries a singles rank of No. 25 and is also No. 22 in doubles with partner Gabriela Duch, finished the weekend undefeated with straight set wins over UK's Kim Coventry and VCU's Marianna Yuferova.
Freshman Jessica Sweeting also survived the weekend unscathed, earning three set victories in both of her matches. Competing from primarily the third position, the Freeport, Bahamas, native owns a 5-1 dual record on the year.
The Bulls will hold their next match at home on Sat., Mar. 3 against BIG EAST foe West Virginia. It will be the first conference match of the year for the women's team. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m.
ITA/FILA Top 30 Rankings
Released Feb. 27, 2007
1 Stanford University
2 University of Notre Dame
3 University of Florida
4 North Carolina
5 Northwestern University
6 Georgia Tech
7 California
8 University of Southern California
9 University of Miami (Florida)
10 College of William and Mary
11 Duke University
12 University of Georgia
13 Clemson University
14 Baylor University
15 UCLA
16 Fresno State
17 Vanderbilt University
18 Pepperdine
19 University of Texas at Austin
20 Arizona State University
21 Wake Forest University
22 Virginia Commonwealth University
23 Texas A&M University
24 University of Tennessee
25 University of Michigan
26 TCU
27 University of South Florida
28 Florida International University
29 University of Virginia
30 Indiana University-Bloomington
