TAMPA- The University of South Florida men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday against No. 34 Tulsa. The Bulls fell to Tulsa 4-3.
Sophomore Yannick Yoshizawa and sophomore Wael Kilani picked up the Bulls only doubles win of the day in their match against Grant Ive and Tristan Jackson. Yoshizawa and Kilani swept past Ive and Jackson 8-4.
Senior Thomas Estrada and freshman Peter Frank competed in doubles action for the Bulls against Philip Stephens and Ashley Watling. The two doubles teams kept things close but in the end Estrada and Frank fell to Stephens and Watling 8-6.
Junior Jamal Adderley and sophomore Mark Oljaca also competed in doubles action for the Bulls against Marco Ballok and Alastair Barnes. Adderley and Oljaca fell to Ballok and Barnes 8-2 and that gave Tulsa the 1-0 advantage heading into the singles matches.
Yoshizawa picked up a singles point for the Bulls in his match against Jackson. Yoshizawa topped Jackson in two sets 6-4, 6-1.
Frank also picked up a singles point for the Bulls in his match against Barnes. Frank beat Barnes in two sets 6-4, 6-4.
Oljaca picked up the Bulls third and final point of the day in his match against Ballok. The two players battled it out in the first set but it would be Oljaca who would grab the first set 7-6. Oljaca went on to pick up the second set as well 6-4.
Adderley competed in singles action for the Bulls in his match against Watling. Adderley fell to Watling 6-3, 6-2.
Deridder also competed in singles action for the Bulls in his match against Ive. Deridder lost to Ive in two sets 6-4, 6-4.
Kilani closed things out for the Bulls on Saturday in his match against Stephens. Kilani lost the first set to Stephens 6-4 but came back in the second set and won it 7-6. That sent the match into a third set where both players gave it all they had. Kilani ended up falling to Stephens in the third set 7-6 and that gave Tulsa the fourth and final point that they needed to walk away with the win.
With the loss the Bulls fall to 1-1 on the season. The Bulls will be back in action on Saturday, Jan 30, when they travel to Los Angeles to take on No. 17 Pepperdine in the ITA National Indoors Qualifying Tournament. Depending on the outcome of that match, the Bulls will face either No. 4 UCLA or No. 41 Hawaii on Sunday, Jan. 31.
