Complete Men's Tennis Bracket
TAMPA- The University of South Florida men's team will have a chance to avenge an early season loss when they meet the Auburn Tigers in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament as part of the Florida State regional in Tallahassee on May 8th at 10 a.m..
"Tallahassee is a great town to play in," said Bulls head coach Don Barr. "We usually play pretty well up there so I am very excited to head there. I really expect us to go up there and play at a high level."
USF comes into the tournament on a roll after claiming their first BIG EAST Championship last weekend. The Bulls come in to NCAA tournament with a record of 14-8 and ranked No. 39 in the final Campbell's/ITA Tennis rankings.
The Bulls' singles line-up features a pair of ranked players in No. 77 sophomore Lucas Jovita and No. 118 freshman Wael KIlani, who last week was named the 2009 BIG EAST Freshman of the year. In doubles competition, Jovita teams up with junior Thomas Estrada to form the country's No. 44 doubles pairing.
The No. 19 Tigers enter the field of 64 with a 13-10 in dual matches and 5-6 mark in Southeastern Conference play. Similar to USF, the Auburn single's line-up features a pair of ranked players and their No. 1 doubles is highly touted. Auburn No. 1 Alexey Tsyrenoz is ranked No. 34 and Tim Puetz, the Tiger's No. 2 singles, is ranked No. 98. Puetz and Tsyrenoz team up to form the No. 9 doubles duo in the country.
Earlier this season, Auburn came to Tampa came and handed USF a 4-1 loss at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts where the Tiger's captured the doubles point with win's in the No. 1 and 3 slots than victory's in the No. 2, 5 and 6 singles to give the Tigers the win.
"I think our doubles team has made a huge turn around from earlier this year," said Barr. "I look for our doubles to be a huge factor again as we enter the tournament."
In the match, senior Mahmoud Hamed registered the lone USF point of the match with a straight set victory over Auburn's Lukas Marsoun in the No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-4. Auburn clinched the dual when Sophomore Jamal Adderley dropped a three marathon to Alexander Stamchev.
With the match clinched, sophomore Lucas Jovita's match in the No. 1 singles and sophomore Romain Deridders No. 4 singles match went unfinished, however both forced third sets.
The winner of the USF-Auburn match will move on to the second round where they will face winner of host Florida State and Jacksonville State on Saturday, May 9th at 1 p.m. In the season opener, USF knocked off the Seminoles, then ranked No. 1, 5-2, at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.
The 2009 NCAA berth marks the 10th trip for the Bulls to the NCAA appearance and their second consecutive. All but one of the programs NCAA berths have come under head Barr. USF is one of three BIG EAST teams in the field of 64 as Louisville and Notre Dame both received at-large bids. Nine teams from the Bulls' 2009 schedule were included in this year's field.
