The No. 50 University of South Florida men's tennis team earned its second BIG EAST win of the season and improved its overall mark to 11-5 with a 6-1 win over DePaul on Thursday at the USF Varsity Courts. The Bulls have one remaining conference matchup, which comes Sunday at Notre Dame.

“It was a good win for us, beating another conference team," USF head coach Don Barr said. "We had a long stretch of matches and then a break, and it was great to see us respond to the down time and play very good tennis."

Yannick Yoshizawa earned the match-clinching point for the Bulls in a 6-2, 6-3 win over Matija Palinic, 6-2, 6-3. Yoshizawa is now 10-4 on the year with two unfinished matches.

He was put in a position to clinch the match thanks to wins from Lucas Jovita and Federico Sabogal. No. 73 Jovita defeated Sven Kasper 6-4, 6-1 in the No. 1 spot, and Sabogal downed Bartosz Jozwiack, 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4.

After the match was decided, Wael Kilani earned a win over George Chanturia, 6-2, 6-4, in the second singles position and Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard beat Filip Dzanko, 6-7, 6-2, 10-2 at No. 5. Sebastian Hagn, forced into the lineup due to an injury to Romain Deridder, dropped his match to Ben Hartman, 7-5, 6-4 in the No. 6 spot.

USF swept the doubles matches to grab an early 1-0 lead. Kilani and Sabogal clinched the point with an 8-5 win over Chanturia and Palinic on Court 2.  Yoshizawa and Deridder were the first winners, defeating Kasper and Jozwiak 8-3 on Court 1. After the point was decided, Jovita and Hagn downed Hartman and Dzanko, 8-4. Hagn is now 9-0 this season in doubles play and 5-0 with Jovita.

The Bulls travel to Notre Dame for a 12 p.m. contest with the Fighting Irish on Sunday.

No. 50 USF 6,  No. 52 DePaul 1
March 24, 2011
USF Varsity Courts

Singles
1. Lucas Jovita (USF) def. Sven Kasper (DU), 6-4, 6-1
2. Wael Kilani (USF) def. George Chanturia, 6-2, 6-4
3. Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) def. Matija Palinic (UD), 6-2, 6-3
4. Federico Sabogal (USF) def. Bartosz Jozwiack, 6-1, 6-4
5. Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard  (USF) def. Filip Dzanko,  6-7, 6-2, 10-2
6. Ben Hartman (DU) def. Sebastian Hagn (USF), 7-5, 6-4              
Order of Finish –  4, 1, 3, 2, 6, 5

Doubles
1.  Yoshizawa/Deridder (USF) def. Kasper/Jozwiak (DU), 8-3       
2. Kilani/Sabogal (USF) def. Chanturia/Palinic (DU), 8-5
3. Jovita/Hagn(USF) def. Hartman/Dzanko (DU), 8-4
Order of Finish – 1, 2, 3