By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA - Yannick Yoshizawa's gutsy performance in singles propelled the Bulls to their first win of the spring Friday.
The senior triumphed in a three-set tiebreaker that gave the USF men's tennis team the decisive point in a 4-3 comeback victory over North Florida at the USF Varsity Courts.
"I think they fought their hearts out today and understood what it is going to take to win matches," USF head coach Don Barr said.
The Bulls had lost their past six matches this spring and let the opening doubles point slip away when North Florida's Moritz Burchner and Pedro Davisson edged Ravi Patel and Federico Sabogal, 9-7.
"I felt they wanted it more than we did. You could see how hungry they were and beat us," Barr said. "If we didn't come out with that kind of hunger we definitely weren't going to win the match."
Barr's chat with his players did the trick as Wael Kilani and Sabogal quickly won their singles matches in two sets. Lucas Marin-Salcedo followed with a three-set victory over Grahoun Edgar that set up a dramatic finish from USF's top singles player this fall.
Yoshizawa, a Big East player of the week in January, lost the second set and took Moritz Burchner through a torturous tiebreaker in the third set before prevailing, 13-11.
"They stayed positive all the time, and when you stay up and positive good things are going to happen," Barr said.
Barr knows a win like Friday could pay dividends for the rest of the season after losses that started to weigh on the Bulls' mind set.
"It gives us a world of confidence just to get that monkey off your back," he said. "You start playing not to lose and that's the worst thing you can do when you're a good player. You don't really play your game and it was starting to get to that point."
"Now we can go ahead and play our game," Barr added.
The Bulls play at Florida 3 p.m. Tuesday before returning to the USF Varsity Courts for a three-match homestand that starts Monday, March 5 against Memphis at 2 p.m. Admission is free for fans.
Doubles
Yannick Yoshizawa/Oliver Pramming def. Daniel Sotomanino/Noubert Nemesek (UNF), 8-3
Julien Belair/Beau Treyz (UNF) def. Wael Kilani/Lucas Marin-Salcedo, 8-5
Moritz Burchner/Pedro Davisson (UNF) def. Ravi Patel/Federico Sabogal, 9-7
Singles
Yoshizawa (USF) def. Burchner, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6
Kilani (USF) def. Sotomarino, 6-4, 6-3
Nemcsek (UNF) def. Juan Carlos Acuna Gerard, 6-4, 6-4
Sabogal (USF) def. Belair, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
Marin-Salcedo (USF) def. Grahoun Edgar, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
Davisson (UNF) def. Patel, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
