University of South Florida
Fresno St.
Women's Tennis Concludes Road Trip, Falls To No. 14 Fresno State
March 17, 2007 | Women's Tennis
FRESNO, Calif. (March 17, 2007) - The No. 39 University of South Florida women's tennis team capped a three-match west coast road trip with a 4-3 loss to No. 14 Fresno State, Friday night at the Wathen Tennis Center.
The loss sends the Bulls to 8-4 overall on the year, and 1-2 on the road trip. The team defeated No. 37 TCU on Wednesday. The Bulldogs move to 9-2 this season, and have won seven in a row.
Action began on the doubles couts with USF dropping two of the three matches. Courtney Vernon and Jessica Sweeting captured their match at No. 2, 8-4 over Anastasia Petukhova and Vanessa Heroux. The No. 26 team of Shadisha Robinson and Gabriela Duch lost for the third straight time, 8-5 to Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe. The strong play of Iciri Rai and Liz Cruz on court three could not steal the doubles point away, as Fresno State's Danon Beatty and Renata Kucerkova held on, 9-7.
In singles, the Bulls split the top two positions against highly ranked opponents. Vernon continued her excellent play by defeating No. 59 Kucerkova in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Robinson drew the No. 3 player in the country, Gloria and was able to take the first set 7-5, but the FS sophomore battled back to take the remaining frames with scores of 6-2, 6-2.
Sweeting broke out of a two-match slide with a straight set victory over Rowe at No. 3, and Duch garnered the final point of the night for USF at No. 5, with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Heroux.
The Bulldogs would add wins at the fourth and sixth positions, over Cruz and Rai, to their total for the decisive four points.
The women's team will regroup as it returns home for a match against No. 61 Auburn on Sun., Mar 18 at 1 p.m. The Lady Tigers come in with a two-match win streak. Admission to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts is free.
No. 14 Fresno State def. No. 39 USF, 4-3
Doubles
1) Gloria/Rowe (FS) def. No. 26 Robinson/Duch (USF) 8-5
2) Sweeting/Vernon (USF) def. Petukhova/Heroux (FS) 8-4
3) Beatty/Kucerkova (FS) def. Cruz/Rai (USF) 9-7
Singles
1) No. 3 Melanie Gloria (FS) def. No. 18 Shadisha Robinson (USF) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
2) No. 71 Courtney Vernon (USF) def. No. 59 Renata Kucerkova (FS) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
3) Jessica Sweeting (USF) def. Tinesta Rowe (FS) 6-2, 6-2
4) No. 70 Anastasia Petukhova (FS) def. Liz Cruz (USF) 6-1, 6-4
5) Gabriela Duch (USF) def. Vanessa Heroux (FS) 6-3, 6-2
6) Danon Beatty (FS) def. Iciri Rai (USF) 6-4, 7-5
