TAMPA, Fla. (April 20, 2007) ? In its first match of the 2007 BIG EAST Championships, the University of South Florida women's tennis team posted a 4-0 shutout over DePaul to advance to the semi-finals Saturday, against the winner of No. 3 seed Louisville and No. 6 seed Syracuse.
Playing without the familiarity of the home Varsity Courts, the Bulls showed no signs of hesitation in dispatching the Blue Demons on the Andros Dorm Courts.
Doubles play saw USF's Iciri Rai and Liz Cruz defeat DU's Bojana Murisic and Clare Chmiel 8-1 on court three, and Jessica Sweeting and Gabriela Duch take care of Dunja Antunovic and Anja Mihaldinec 8-3 to seal the doubles point on No. 1.
Cruz and Duch also provided the singles support for the Bulls to close out the match. With Chmiel suffering an injury during the doubles portion and defaulting at the No. 6 position to Rai, USF seized a 2-0 lead in the match. Duch then went to work on Petra Rehusova at No. 5 and blanked the Blue Demons senior 6-0, 6-0 for a 3-0 edge. Cruz completed the sweep at No. 4 with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Murisic.
The Bulls will advance on to face the winner of today's Noon match between No. 3 Louisville and No. 6 Syracuse tomorrow also at Noon, on the Varsity Courts.
In other early women's action from Friday, No. 1 seed Notre Dame moved on past No. 9 seed Connecticut, 4-0. The Fighting Irish will next face the winner of No. 4 Marquette and No. 12 Rutgers, who face each other today at Noon.
BIG EAST Championships ? USF 4, DePaul 0
Doubles:
1) Duch/Sweeting (USF) def. Antunovic/Mihaldinec (DU) 8-3
2) Robinson/Vernon (USF) led Gambrell/Rehusova (DU) 5-4 (DNF)
3) Cruz/Rai (USF) def. Murisic/Chmiel (DU) 8-1
Singles:
1) Shadisha Robinson (USF) led Dunja Antunovic (DU) 7-5 (DNF)
2) Courtney Vernon (USF) led Kristen Gambrell (DU) 6-0, 4-0 (DNF)
3) Anja Mihaldinec (DU) led Jessica Sweeting (USF) 5-4 (DNF)
4) Liz Cruz (USF) def. Bojana Murisic (DU) 6-0, 6-2
5) Gabriela Duch (USF) def. Petra Rehusova (DU) 6-0, 6-0
6) Iciri Rai (USF) def. Clare Chmiel (DU) by default
