ORLANDO, Fla. (March 25, 2007) ? For the second time in as many matches, the University of South Florida men's tennis team was barely edged by a ranked team, losing 4-3 to No. 62 Central Florida on Sat., Mar. 24 in Orlando.
Following the heartbreaking loss to No. 50 Denver on Mar. 22, the Bulls (6-10) fell to the Golden Knights after opening play by sweeping the doubles point.
The tandem of Mahmoud Hamed and Thomas Estrada continued to play well, surviving a close match with UCF's Norman Alcantara and Brock Sakey at the top spot.
Henning Hipp and Daniel Daudt captured their match at No. 2, 8-6 and Ales Svigelj and partner Marc Jaeger closed things out at No. 3, 8-5.
USF could not sustain the momentum in singles action however, as UCF (11-5) came back to take four of the six matches.
Svigelj took his match at No. 1 after a three-set tiebreak against Sinan Sudas and Estrada defeated Sakey at No. 5, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 for the last two points USF would capture.
Tarek Ben Soltane set down Marc Jaeger 6-1, 6-2 on court two and Hamed and Hipp both lost close three set matches at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.
Diego Toledo fell at No. 6 to Ener Gursoy to give the Golden Knights the swing point to take the match.
The Bulls will return to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts on Sat., Mar. 31 for a final home stand against Middle Tennessee State and Texas San Antonio. Saturday's match against MTSU is scheduled for Noon. Admission is free.
No. 62 UCF 4, USF 3
Doubles:
1) Hamed/Thomas (USF) def. Alcantara/Sakey (UCF) 8-7, 1-0 (10-6)
2) Hipp/Daudt (USF) def. Sudas/Beigart (UCF) 8-6
3) Svigelj/Jaeger (USF) def. Soltane/Roesch (UCF) 8-5
Singles:
1) Ales Svigelj (USF) def. Sinan Sudas (UCF) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6, 1-0 (10-3)
2) Tarek Ben Soltane (UCF) def. Marc Jaeger (USF) 6-1, 6-2
3) Johan Beigart (UCF) def. Mahmoud Hamed (USF) 6-0, 3-6, 6-2
4) Norman Alcantara (UCF) def. Henning Hipp (USF) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
5) Thomas Estrada (USF) def. Brock Sakey (UCF) 2-6, 6-4, 7-5
6) Ener Gursoy (UCF) def. Diego Toledo (USF) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
USF: 6-10 No. 62 UCF: 11-5
