TAMPA- The University of South Florida women's tennis team lost its first dual match of the season on Sunday against No. 4 Georgia. The Bulls fell to Georgia 5-2.
Senior Melissa Koning and junior Irene Rehberger competed in doubles action on Sunday against Chelsey Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist. Koning and Rehberger fell to Gullickson and Gilchrist 8-0.
Senior Natalia Guevara and senior Allyn Mueller also competed in doubles action for the Bulls on Sunday against Cameron Ellis and Yvette Hyndman. The two teams managed to keep things close throughout the match but in the end Guevara and Mueller fell to Ellis and Hyndman 8-5. That gave Georgia the 1-0 lead heading into the singles matches.
Freshman Ecaterina Vasenina and redshirt sophomore Janette Bejlkova competed in doubles action on Sunday against Lara Fakhoury and Naoko Ueshima. Bejlkova and Vasenina were topped by Fakhoury and Ueshima 8-2.
Koning picked up one of the two singles points for the Bulls on Sunday in her match against Hyndman. Koning picked up the first set against Hyndman 7-6 (8-6) and then went on to win the second set 6-1.
Guevara picked up the Bulls second and final singles point of the day in her match against Fakhoury. Guevara would go up 1-0 in the first set before Fakhoury retired from the match which gave Guevara the win.
Rehberger competed in singles action for the Bulls on Sunday against Gullickson. Rehberger fell to Gullickson in two sets 6-3, 6-3.
Vasenina also competed in singles action for the Bulls in her match against Gilchirst. Gilchirst dropped Vasenina in two sets 7-5, 6-2.
Mueller competed against Ellis in her singles match on Sunday. Muller lost to Ellis in two sets 6-2, 6-2. That gave Georgia the fourth and final point they needed to pick up the win over the Bulls.
Bejlkova closed things out for the Bulls in her match against Ueshima. Bejlkova lost the first set to Ueshima 7-6 (7-2). Bejlkova retired from the match after the losing the first set.
The Bulls fall to 1-1 on the season after suffering the 5-2 loss to Georgia. The Bulls will be back in action on Monday, Feb. 8, when they travel to Gainesville to take on the No. 8 Florida Gators.
