TAMPA- The University of South Florida women's tennis team returned to action on Sunday when they hosted Texas A&M at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. The Bulls beat Texas A&M 4-3.
It was a sunny and windy day at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts with temperatures in the high 50's. The day started out with doubles competition.
Senior Ally Mueller and freshman Ecaterina Vasenina started out doubles competition for the Bulls in their flight two doubles match against Christi Liles and Morgan Frank. Vasenina and Mueller fell to Liles and Frank in eight straight games.
No. 15 Junior Irene Rehberger and senior Melissa Koning took on No. 36 Elze Potgieter and Nazari Urbina. This was a back and forth match between the two doubles partners with each team refusing to give up. Koning and Rehberger fell behind to Potgieter and Urbina 7-6 before coming back and tying the match 7-7. Koning and Rehberger went on to win the next two games and that gave them the 9-7 victory over Potgieter and Uribina.
It all came down to the flight three doubles match. The winner of this match would determine who would have the 1-0 lead heading into singles matches. Senior Lauren Shumate and redshirt sophomore Janette Bejlkova took on Stephanie Davidson and Sheri Olivier in the flight three doubles spot. This match proved to be a nail bitter. Shumate and Bejlkova were behind 8-7 before coming back and tying the match 8-8. Shumate and Bejlkova would pull out the win in the final game which gave them the 9-8 victory over Olivier and Davidson. With the win the Bulls took the 1-0 advantage heading into singles matches.
Koning started out singles competition for USF in her flight two singles match against Morgan Frank. Koning fell to Frank in two sets 6-3, 6-1 and that tied things up between the two teams.
Bejlkova picked up the Bulls first singles win of the day in her flight four singles match against Liles. Bejlkova took cares of Liles in two sets 6-4, 6-3. That made the score 2-1 USF.
Vasenina competed in the flight three singles spot for the Bulls on Sunday against Urbina. Vasenina lost to Urbina 6-2, 6-2 and that once again tied things up between the two teams.
Senior Jessica Zok picked up the Bulls third point of the day in her flight six singles match against Olivier. Zok downed Olivier in two sets 6-1, 6-0. That gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead over the Aggies.
Rehberger competed against Potgieter in the flight one singles spot on Sunday. This was a fierce battle between the two players and each player put every ounce of energy they had into this match. Rehberger picked up the first set 6-4 but Potgieter came back in the second set and won it 6-4. That sent the match into a third set where both players continued to battle hard. In the end it was Rehberger who walked away with the 6-2 third set win. That gave the Bulls the fourth and final point they needed to pick up the win over the Aggies.
Senior Natalia Guevara also competed in singles action for USF on Sunday in the flight five singles spot against Stephanie Davidson. This was another long fought out battle. Guevara picked up the first 7-6 after being down 4-1 in the first set. Davidson came back in the second set and won it 6-2 which sent the match into a third set. Davidson picked up the third set over Guevara 6-2.
The Bulls will be back in action on Wednesday, March 3, when they travel to Columbia, S.C., to take on the University of South Carolina.
