TAMPA- The University of South Florida men's tennis team competed in its second straight home match on Sunday against Princeton. The Bulls took down Princeton 5-2.
It was another sunny day at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts with temperatures around 70 degrees. Freshman Peter Frank and junior Romain Deridder started things out for the Bulls on Sunday in their No. 2 doubles match against Michael Lin and Matt Spindler. Frank and Deridder fell to Lin and Spindler 8-4.
Sophomore Wael Kilani and freshman Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard competed in the No. 3 doubles position for USF against Colman Crutchfield and Alex Faust. Things were tied 5-5 before Kilani and Acuna would go on to win the next three games which gave them the 8-5 win.
With both teams having won one doubles match it would all come down to the No. 1 doubles match to decide who would have the 1-0 advantage heading into singles matches. Senior Thomas Estrada and junior Jamal Adderley competed against Yohei Shoji and Matt Siow. This was a fierce battle between the two doubles teams and both teams refused to give up. The match was tied 7-7 before Siow and Shoji would go on and win the next two games to pick up the 9-7 win.
Frank started out singles competition for USF with a win. Frank competed in the No. 3 singles position against Siow. Frank downed Siow in two sets 6-3, 6-1. That tied things up between the two teams 1-1.
Sophomore Alex Pukal picked up the Bulls second singles win of the day in his match against Faust. Pukal competed against Faust in the No. 6 singles position and Pukal would pick up the first set against Faust 6-2. In the second set Pukal would fall behind 5-2 but would come back and tie the set 5-5. Pukal picked up the next two games which gave him the 7-5 second set win. That gave the Bulls their first lead of the day.
Sophomore Mark Oljaca earned USF's third point of the day in his No. 4 singles match against Spindler. Both players battled it out in the first set and it would be Oljaca would pick up the 7-5 first set win. Oljaca went on to win the second set 6-4.
Kilani picked up the Bull's fourth point of the day in his No. 1 singles match against Pecoctic. Both players put everything they had into this match. Things were tied 5-5 in the first set before Kilani would go on and win the next two games to pick up the 7-5 first set win. Kilani would fall behind 4-1 in the second set but he would battle back and he ended up winning the second set 7-6. That gave USF the fourth and final point that they needed to earn the win over Princeton.
Acuna picked up the bulls fifth point of the day in his No. 5 singles match against Ryan Kim. After losing the first set 6-4, Acuna would come back and win the second set 6-2. In the third set Acuna would top Kim 6-3.
Adderley competed in the No. 2 singles position for the Bulls against Charlie Brosons. After picking up the first set 6-4, Adderley would fall in the second set 7-5. After falling behind 1-0 in the third set, Adderley had to retire from the match.
The Bulls will be back in action on Tuesday when they welcome Mississippi State to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. The USF women's tennis team will also be back in action on Tuesday when they host the University of New Mexico. Both matches are set to start at 2 p.m. People who come out to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts on Tuesday will receive FREE pizza.
