NOTRE DAME, Ind. (April 24, 2010) - The University of South Florida women's tennis team returned to action on Saturday taking on DePaul in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championships and falling to the Blue Demons 4-0.
Due to the bad weather, the match was played indoors at the South Bend Racquet Club.
Senior Lauren Shumate and redshirt sophomore
Janette Bejlkova started out doubles competition for the Bulls in their No. 2 doubles match against DePaul's Katarina Milinkovic and Sandra Zmak. Shumate and Bejlkova fell to Milinkovic and Zmak 8-1.
No. 15 Junior Irene Rehberger and senior
Melissa Koning teamed up together in the No. 1 doubles position to take on No. 19 Anna Redecsi and Selma Salkovic. Rehberger and Koning were up 7-6, however, let Redecsi and Salkovic battle back to make it 7-7. Redecsi and Salkovic went on to win the next two games to earn the 9-7 victory. With the win the Blue Demons earned the 1-0 advantage heading into singles competition.
The Bulls duo of junior Natalia Guevara and senior
Jessica Zok took on Kirsten Gambrell and Gia McKnight in the No. 3 doubles match. Guevara and Zok were down 4-1 before they would battle back and tie the match 4-4. It continued to be a back and forth match between the two teams and the match was tied 7-7 before it was stopped.
Bejlkova started out singles competition for USF in No. 4 singles against Zmak, losing in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
Zok took on McKnight in the No. 5 singles position and handed Zok a 6-4, 6-2 loss, giving DePaul a commanding 3-0 lead over the Bulls.
No. 43 Rehberger then faced No. 79 Redecsi in No. 1 singles. After winning the first set 6-4, Rehberger would lose the next two sets, 6-4, 6-0, which would give the Blue Demons the fourth and final point they needed to pick up the win over the Bulls.
In No. 3 singles Vasenina took on Milinkovia. After losing the first set 6-3, Vasenina battled back and won the second set 6-3. Vasenina was up 5-3 in the third set before the match was ended.
Koning also competed in singles action on Saturday in the No. 2 singles position against Salkovic. Koning was downed by Salkovic in the first set 7-6, but Koning kept battling and came back and won the second set 6-3. In the third set Koning was up 2-1 before the match was stopped.
Guevara rounded out play in the No. 6 singles position for the Bulls against Gambrell. After losing the first set 6-2, Guevara fought back and won the second set 6-2. Guevara was up 2-1 in the third set when the match was ended.
The Bulls finished the tournament 1-1 after earning a 4-0 victory over Rutgers in the quarterfinals on Friday. USF is currently ranked No. 24 in the nation.
