University of South Florida
Notre Dame
Bulls Drop 4-1 Decision To No. 38 Notre Dame
April 24, 2010 | Men's Tennis
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (April 23, 2010) - The University of South Florida men's tennis team dropped a 4-1 match to No. 38 Notre Dame in the BIG EAST championship semifinals Saturday afternoon.
Due to the bad weather, the match was played indoor tennis at the South Bend Racquet Club.
Senior Thomas Estrada and junior Jamal Adderley started out doubles competition for USF with a win, defeating Stephen Havens and Casey Watt in the No. 1 doubles position, 8-3.
Sophomore Mark Oljaca and freshman Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard took on David Anderson and Daniel Stahl in the No. 3 doubles position. The match was tied 5-5 before Davis and Fitzgerald went on to win the next three games to earn the 8-5 victory. With each team having won one doubles match it all came down to the No. 2 doubles match to decide who would have the 1-0 advantage heading into singles competition.
The Bulls duo of sophomores Yannick Yoshizawa and Wael Kilani took on Tyler Davis and Niall Fitzgerald in a No. 2 doubles match. After falling behind 5-3, Kilani and Yoshizawa would battle back and tie the match 5-5. It continued to be a back-and-forth battle between the two teams and the match was tied 7-7 before Davis and Fitzgerald went on to win the next two games to earn the 9-7 victory. With the win, the Irish earned the 1-0 lead heading into singles competition.
Adderley started out singles competition for the Bulls with his No. 2 singles match against Havens, however lost in two sets 6-0, 6-2.
No. 84 Kilani picked up the Bulls first point of the day in his No. 1 singles match against No. 47 Watt. After winning the first set 6-3, Kilani fell in the second set by the same score. That sent the match into a third set where Kilani found himself up 4-1 before Watt creep his way back into the match and made it 4-3. Kilani went on to win the next two games, though, which gave him the 6-3 third set victory over Watt. That pulled the Bulls within one of the Fighting Irish.
Freshman Peter Frank took on No.110 Stahl in the No. 3 singles spot. Despite keeping things close in the first set, Frank fell to Stahl 7-6. In the second set Frank lost to Stahl 6-3, giving Notre Dame a 3-1 lead over USF.
Junior Romain Deridder closed out the competition for USF in his No. 4 singles match against Keeton. After winning the first set 6-4, Deridder would lose the next two sets 6-4, 6-2. With the win, the Fighting Irish earned the 4-1 win over the Bulls.
Yoshizawa also competed in singles action for USF in the No. 5 singles position. Yoshizawa took on Anderson and picked up the first set over Anderson 6-3. In the second set Yoshizawa was downed by Anderson 6-3 which sent the match into a third frame. The set was tied at 5-5 before the match was stopped.
Acuna took on Blas Moros in the No.6 singles position. Moros handed Acuna a 6-3 first set loss. In the second set Acuna was down 5-4 but fought back and made it 6-5 before the match was ended.
The Bulls went 1-1 at the BIG EAST Championships with a 4-2 win over St. John's on Friday. The Bulls finished the 2010 season with an overall record of 8-13.
