TAMPA- The No. 16 University of South Florida women's tennis team returned to action on Tuesday when they hosted the University of New Mexico at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. The Bulls swept the Lobos 7-0.
Senior Lauren Shumate and redshirt sophomore Janette Bejlkova started out the day for the Bulls with a win. Shumate and Bejlkova competed in the No. 2 doubles position against Anya Villanueva and Laura Richardson. Shumate and Bejlkova quickly took care of Villanueva and Richardson 8-1.
Senior Melissa Koning ranked No. 14 in the nation, and junior Irene Rehberger kept the momentum going for the Bulls in their No. 1 doubles match against Ashley Bonner and Amy Shipperd. Koning and Rehberger beat Bonner and Shipperd 8-2, giving the Bulls the 1-0 lead heading into singles matches.
Senior Jessica Zok and junior Natalia Guevara closed out doubles competition for USF in their No. 3 doubles match against Kristin Eggleston and Manumea Durie. Zok and Guevara downed Eggleston and Durie 8-4.
Bejlkova started out singles competition for USF with a win. Bejlkova competed against Richardson in the No. 3 singles position and rolled past Richardson in two sets 6-0, 6-0.
Zok earned the Bulls third point of the day in her No. 4 singles match against Shipperd. Zok took down Shipperd 6-1, 6-0.
Guevara competed in the No. 5 singles position for USF against Eggleston. Guevara swept Eggleston in two sets 6-0, 6-0. That gave the Bulls the fourth and final point they needed to pick up the win over New Mexico.
No. 45 Rehberger kept the winning streak going for USF in her No. 1 singles match against Anya Villanueva. Rehberger picked up the first set over Villanueva 6-1. In the second set Rehberger would go up 5-2 before letting Villanueva come back and make it 5-4. Rehberger went on to win the next game, though, which gave her the 6-4 second set victory.
Senior Allyn Mueller picked up USF's sixth point of the day in her No. 6 singles match against Michaela Oldani. Mueller beat Oldani in two sets 6-2, 6-2.
Koning closed out things for the Bulls in her No. 2 singles match against Bonner. Both players battled it out in the first set and Koning was up 6-5 before Bonner would come back and tie it 6-6. Koning won the next game, though, which gave her the 7-6 first set victory. In the second set, Koning was up 5-1 before letting Bonner make a short comeback to make it 5-3. Koning wasn't about to let the win slip away from her, though, and she went on to win the next game which gave her the 6-3 victory in the second set. That sealed the sweep for the Bulls.
With the win, the Bulls improve to 9-4 on the season. USF moved up to No. 16 in the nation in the ITA rankings on Tuesday. The Bulls will be back in action on Friday, April 2, when they welcome Rice University to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. That match is set to start at 11 a.m.
