University of South Florida
St. Johns
USF Earns Spot In Semifinals With 4-2 Win Over St. John's
April 23, 2010 | Men's Tennis
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (April 23, 2010) - The University of South Florida men's tennis team returned to action on Friday taking on St. John's, and defeating the Red Storm 4-2, in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Conference Championships at Leeper Park Tennis Courts in Notre Dame, Ind.
Sophomores Yannick Yoshizawa and Wael Kilani started out singles competition for USF with an 8-3 win defeating Asaf Honing and Derek Wallensteen in the No. 2 doubles position.
Senior Thomas Estrada and junior Jamal Adderley kept things rolling for the Bulls in their No. 1 doubles match against Milo Hauk and Pavel Cerny. Estrada and Adderley were up 4-3 before they went on to win four out the next five games to give them the 8-4 victory. The win gave USF a 1-0 lead heading into singles competition.
Sophomore Mark Oljaca and freshman Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard took on Mike Lampa and Stefan Bojic in No. 3 doubles. Oljaca and Acuna were up 6-5 before the match was stopped.
Gerard started out singles competition for the Bulls with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Martin Kosut in the No. 6 singles position which gave USF a 2-0 lead over the Red Storm.
Oljaca competed in the No. 3 singles position for USF against Lampa. After picking up the first set 6-1, Oljaca would fall in the next two sets 6-2, 6-3 giving St. John's their first point of the day.
Kilani earned the Bulls third point of the afternoon in his No. 1 singles match against Hauk. In the first set both players battled it out as Kilani found himself down 6-5 before he would fight back and take the first set 7-6. Kilani would settle down in the second set handing Hauk a 6-3 loss.
Freshman Peter Frank took on Honing in the No. 2 singles spot dropping the first set to Honing 6-3. In the second set both players continued to fight, but when it was all said and done Honing would pick up the 7-6 second set victory. That pulled the Red Storm to within one point of the Bulls.
Junior Romain Deridder earned the fourth and final point USF needed to pick up the win over the Red Storm doing so in No. 3 singles. After falling in the first set 6-3, Deridder came back and won the next two sets 6-2, 6-4.
Yoshizawa also competed in singles competition for the Bulls taking on Bojic in No. 5 singles. Yoshizawa earned the 7-6 first set win over Bojic, but in the second set Yoshizawa would fall 6-4. The third set was tied 6-6 before the match was ended.
With the win, USF advances to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championships and will face Notre Dame at 9 a.m. USF faced Notre Dame earlier in the season and beat them 4-3.
