TAMPA- The No. 72 University of South Florida men's tennis team returned to action on Wednesday when the Bulls welcomed BIG EAST opponent DePaul to the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. The Bulls downed the Blue Demons 5-2.
It was a sunny day at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts with temperatures in the high 70's. Sophomore Wael Kilani and sophomore Yannick Yoshizawa started out the day for the Bulls with a win. Kilani and Yoshizawa took on Vanja Grgec and Mathias Hambach in the No. 2 doubles position. The match was tied 7-7 before Kilani and Yoshizawa would go on to win the next games to give them the 9-7 win.
Freshman Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard and sophomore Mark Oljaca teamed up together to take on Alasdair Graetz and Doug Perrin in the No. 3 doubles position. Gerard and Oljaca were down 6-5 before they would come back and tie things up 6-6. Oljaca and Gerard fell in the next two games, though, which gave Graetz and Perrin the 8-6 victory.
The No. 1 doubles match would determine which team would have the 1-0 lead heading into singles competition. Senior Thomas Estrada and junior Jamal Adderley took on Bartosz Jozwiak and Ben Hartmann in the No. 1 doubles position. Estrada and Adderley would fall behind 6-3 before they would come back and win the next five games to earn a hard fought 8-6 come from behind win. With the win, the Bulls earned the 1-0 advantage heading into singles matches.
Kilani started out singles competition for USF with a win. Kilani took on Graetz in the No. 2 singles spot. Kilani took care of Graetz in two sets 6-4, 6-2. That gave the Bulls a 2-0 lead over DePaul.
Gerard competed in the No. 5 singles position for USF against Vanja Grgec. Gerard fell to Grgec in two straight sets 6-4, 6-2. That gave the Blue Demons their first point of the day.
Yoshizawa picked up the Bulls third point of the day in his No. 6 singles match against Doug Perrin. Yoshizawa downed Perrin 6-3, 6-3. USF now led 3-1 over the Blue Demons.
Oljaca competed against Hambach in the No. 4 position. After picking up the first 6-4, Oljaca would fall in the next two sets 6-2, 7-5. The Bulls now led 3-2.
Adderley helped seal the win for USF in his No. 1 singles match against Jozwiak. Both players battled hard in this match and both players refused to back down. Adderley topped Jozwiak in two straight sets 7-6, 7-6.
Junior Romain Deridder closed things out for the Bulls in his No. 3 singles match against Matija Palinic. Deridder picked up the first set over Palinic 6-1. In the second set Deridder was up 5-4 before Palinic would fight back and win the second set 7-5. In the third set Deridder would beat Palinic 6-3.
The Bulls will be back in action on Friday when they travel to the state of Alabama to take on the Auburn Tigers. The last time these two teams met was in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament when the Bulls fell to the Tigers 4-0. USF will be looking to even the score when they take on Auburn. The match is set to start at 11:30 a.m.
