BIG EAST Tournament Central
TAMPA- For the second consecutive season, the University of South Florida men's tennis team will play for the BIG EAST Championship as the Bulls knocked off second-seeded Notre Dame, 4-1, in semifinals of the 2009 BIG EAST Men's Tennis Championships on Saturday afternoon at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.
The win sets up a Sunday morning (9 a.m.) showdown with DePaul, who had a marathon dual of its own, for the BIG EAST Championship The fifth-seeded Blue Demons upset top-seeded Louisville in their semifinal match.
After USF dropped the No. 1 doubles, the senior-sophomore combination of Mahmoud Hamed and Jamal Adderley responded by taking care of Stephen Havens and Casey Watt, 8-2, to split the first two doubles matches.
With the all-important doubles point on the line, securing an early lead rested in the hands of a pair of freshman in the No. 3 slot. The duo of Wael Kilani and Yannick Yoshizawa jumped out to a 6-2 lead on Santiago Montoya amd Daniel Stahl and the freshmen earned their stripes by holding off a Notre Dame comeback bid for a thrilling 8-5 victory.
With a 1-0 lead in hand, the Bulls headed to singles action needing just three of the six singles matches to advance to the Championship match.
Although USF still held the 1-0 lead, the Irish started out strong by taking the first set in four of the six singles matches. Kilani, in the No. 2 slot, and junior
Thomas Estrada, in the No. 6 singles, were the only Bulls to take the first set in singles play.
The Bullls would battle back in decisive fasion.
Every Bulls that dropped their first set would comeback to win the second set.
Hamed, playing in the No. 3 singles stormed back to take the second set.
Sophomore Romain Deridder rallied to take the second after being down, 4-2, to David Anderson.
Adderley and sophomore Lucas Jovita did same in their match, while the Tampa heat became a factor as multiple Notre Dame players began cramping.
With all six matches in the third sets, Estrada would extend the Bulls' lead to 2-0 with a three-set win over Tyler Davis. Shortly after Wael Kilani would drop the Bulls' magic number to one as he closed out Stephen Havens in the third set, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
Needing just one more victory to put themselves into Sunday's Championship match, Hamed could not hold on to a 4-3 third set lead as he fell to Casey Watt.
The loss made the score, 3-1, with three matches still to be decided. Jovita, in the No. 1 singles, took an early 2-0 lead over No. 24 Brett Helgeson in the third set but he wouldn't have to do much more work as Jamal Adderly finished off Daniel Stahl, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4, to put USF in the Championship.
The win for USF, 13-8 on the season, puts Don Barr's Bulls into the Championship match for the second time in as many years. It also avenges a pair of losses to the Irish. USF fell to ND in the final match of the 2008 BIG EAST Championship and lost, 6-1, in South Bend on March 28 of this season..
DePaul comes into the finals with a record of 18-9 of and ranked No. 50 in the Campbells/ITA Team Rankings.
In tomorrow's match, USF will look to capture the school's third BIG EAST Tournament Championship. Women's Tennis earned the schools first in 2007 and then men's soccer captured a second this past fall. All of the Championships have been won while USF was the host school.
A win against DePaul would give the USF Men's Tennis their 15th conference title (3 C-USA, 1 Metro, 9 Sun-Belt) and the fifth under head coach Don Barr. It will also asure the Bulls their second consecutive NCAA appearance and 10th appearance in 43 years of USF men's tennis.
No. 41 USF 4, No. 28 Notre Dame 1
2009 BIG EAST Championship Semifinal
Apr 18, 2009
USF Varsity Tennis Courts - Tampa, Fla.
Singles competition
1. #29 Brett Helgeson (UND) vs. #90 Lucas Jovita (USF) 6-4, 4-6, 1-1, unfinished
2. #117 Wael Kilani (USF) def. Stephen Havens (UND) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
3. Casey Watt (UND) def. Mahmoud Hamed (USF) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
4. Jamal Adderley (USF) def. Daniel Stahl (UND) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4
5. David Anderson (UND) vs. Romain Deridder (USF) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 4-3, unfinished
6. Thomas Estrada (USF) def. Tyler Davis (UND) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #31 Brett Helgeson/Tyler Davis (UND) def. #40 Lucas Jovita/Thomas Estrada (USF) 8-2
2. Mahmoud Hamed/Jamal Adderley (USF) def. Stephen Havens/Casey Watt (UND) 8-4
3. Wael Kilani/Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) def. Santiago Montoya/Daniel Stahl (UND) 8-5
