TAMPA- The University of South Florida men's tennis team competed against Middle Tennessee State at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts on Friday. The USF women's tennis team was also in action against NC State.
The day started out with doubles matches on Friday. Junior Jamal Adderley and sophomore Alex Pukal started out doubles competition for the Bulls on Friday in their flight three doubles match against Richard Cowden and Shaun Waters. Adderley and Pukal fell to Cowden and Waters 8-1.
Senior Thomas Estrada and freshman Peter Frank picked up the Bulls first doubles win of the day in their flight one doubles match against John Peers and Kyle Wishing. Estrada and Frank downed Peers and Wishing 8-1.
With each team having won one doubles match the outcome of the flight two doubles match would determine who would have the 1-0 advantage heading into singles competition. Sophomore Wael Kilani and sophomore Yannick Yoshizawa competed against Vector Melo and Matt Langley in the flight two doubles spot. This was a long fought out battle between the two teams. Kilani and Yoshizawa led 7-5 and Melo and Langley would pick up the next game to make it 7-6. Kilani and Yoshizawa would go on to win the next game, though, which gave them the 8-6 win and gave the Bulls the 1-0 lead heading in singles matches.
Frank started out singles competition for the Bulls on Friday with a win. Frank competed in the flight three singles spot against Cowden and rolled past Cowden in two sets 6-2, 6-2.
Junior Romain Deridder kept the momentum going for the Bulls in his flight four singles match against Waters. Deridder beat Waters 6-2, 6-2.
Kilani competed in the flight one singles spot for USF on Friday against Peers. Kilani picked up the first set 6-4 but Peers would come back in the second set and win it 6-4 which sent the match into a third set. Kilani fell to Peers in the third set 6-1. That made the score 3-1 between USF and Middle Tennessee State.
Freshman Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard would pick up the fourth and final point that the Bulls would need to pick up the win over Middle Tennessee State on Friday in his flight five singles match against McCann. Gerard took care of McCann in two sets 6-3, 7-5.
Yoshizawa competed in the flight six singles spot for USF on Friday against Wishing. Yoshizawa lost the first set to Wishing 4-6 but came back and won the second set 6-3. Yoshizawa would earn the come from behind win after beating Wishing 6-3 in the third set.
Adderley closed out singles competition for the Bulls in his flight two singles match against Melo. Adderley won the first set 6-1 but then dropped the second set 6-2. Adderley fell to Melo in the third set 6-3.
The Bulls will be back in action on Sunday when they travel to Gainesville to take on the No. 7 Gators. Competition is set to start at 1 p.m.
