TAMPA- Despite taking an early 2-0 lead, the University of South Florida women's tennis team could not hold off a rally by No. 75 Boston University as the Bulls fell 4-2 in the at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts Saturday.
The Bulls started the afternoon strong by taking two of the three doubles matches to take the doubles point. Junior Lauren Shumate and sophomore Natalia Guevara started it off with a convincing 8-3 win over Santini and Corrao .
USF would then drop the No. 1 doubles, but junior Allyn Mueller and sophomore Jessica Zok would pick up the slack by taking care of Leftowith and Abraham, 8-5 to secure the doubles point.
Heading to singles action with the lead in hand, sophomore Irene Rehberger extended the lead to 2-0 with her 10th straight singles victory. The country's No. 48 ranked singles player easily disposed of Whu, 6-3, 6-1 to improve her record to 10-1 in dual matches this season .
Despite USF's strong play early, the Bulls were unable to pick up two more singles victories to claim the dual.
The Terriers would go on to clinch victories in the No. 2, 3, 4 and 6 singles positions to claim the dual.
Once the match was decided, the Schumate-Corrao match would go unfinished, however Shumate held a 6-5 advantage in the third set.
With the loss, USF falls to 6-11 on the season. The Bulls will now travel to Miami to take on Florida International April 11 at 11 a.m. in the regular season finale. Following their match with FIU, the Bulls begin preparation for the he 2009 BIG EAST Championships which will be held April 15-18 here in Tampa at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.
No. 75 USF , No. 73 Boston
April 4, 2009
USF Varsity Tennis Courts-Tampa, Fla.
Doubles
1. Whu/Nunic def. Irene Rehberger/ Inna Chepuinaya 8-3
2. Lauren Shumate/Natalia Guevara def. Santini/Corrao 8-3
3. Jessica Zok/ Allyn Mueller def. Leftowith/Abraham 8-5
Finish Order: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. No. 48 Irene Rehberger def. Whu 6-3, 6-1
2. Nunic def. Jessica Zok 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
3. Santini def. Natalia Guevara 1-6, 5-7, 6-2
4. Leftowith def. Allyn Mueller 7-5, -1-6, 6-2
5. Lauren Shumate def. Corrao 4-6, 6-4, 6-5 UNF.
6. Abraham def. Christine Wilson 6-0, 6-2
Finish Order: 1, 6, 2, 4, 3, 5
