TAMPA- Opening BIG EAST Conference play, the
University of
South Florida men's tennis team got off on the right foot by tallying a 4-3 victory over the visiting
St. John's Red Storm Thursday afternoon at the USF Varsity tennis courts.
The team took command of the match early by sweeping the doubles point to take the 1-0 lead. After nursing an injury in the match against Radford, sophomore
Lucas Jovita got back together with
Thomas Estrada to form the 28th ranked duo in country and register a 8-2 victory over Pavel Cerny and Gustavo Loza in the No. 1 position.
In the second doubles match, freshmen Wael Kilani and Yannick Yoshizawa teamed up for the first time this season to take care of Bill Kring and Tim Sichler 8-4 to clinch the point. It would then be the sophomore duo of
Jamal Adderley and Arzhang Derakshani to complete the sweep as they took care of Milo Hauk and Derek Wallensteen, 8-6.
Heading into singles competition with a 1-0 lead, the Bulls would put the match on ice quickly as the Bulls top three positions would register quick victories to give the Bulls a match clinching 4-0 lead. The first singles point would come from the No. 3 position, as Adderley took care Stefan Nikolic, 6-0, 6-0 to push the lead to 2-0.
With Jovita sitting out singles action, Kilani made himself right at home in the No.1 singles as he quickly took care of
Asaf Honig, 6-0,6-1. Kilani
The match would be put away by the No.2 position. As he has done so many times before, senior Mahoud Hamed finished of the Red Storm by made quick work of Gustavo Loza to give the Bulls 4-0 lead and the match.
The win moves the Bulls record to 7-4 on the season as they head into an in-state showdown with No.33 Miami tomorrow at 2 p.m. at USF Varsity Tennis Courts. Tomorrow's match against the Hurricanes will be “USF Tennis Recognition Day.”
USF 4, St. John's 3
March 12, 2009
USF Varsity Tennis Courts
Doubles
1. No. 28 Lucas Jovita/ Thomas Estrada def. Pavel Cerny / Gustavo Loza -8-2
2. Wael Kilani/ Yannick Yoshizawa def. Martin Kosut / Asaf Honig - 8-4
3. Arzhang Derakshani /Jamal Adderley def. Milo Hauk / Derek Wallensteen-8-6
Singles
1. No. 92 Wael Kilani (USF) def. Asaf Honig (STJ)- 6-0, 6-1
2. Mahmoud Hamed (USF) def. Gustavo Loza (STJ)- 6-3, 6-1
3. Jamal Adderley (USF) def. Stefan Nikolic (STJ)- 6-0,6-0
4. Milo Hauk (STJ) def. Romain Deridder (USF) ? 3-6, 6-4, (10-7)
5. Pavel Cerny (STJ) def. Mark Oljaca (USF) ? 6-7, 6-2, 10-5
6. Martin Kosut (STJ) def. Thomas Estrada (USF) ? 2-6, 6-4, 1-0(10-7)
