ORLANDO (April 22, 2017) – The No. 7 seed USF women's tennis team defeated top-seeded Tulsa to earn their second American Championship in an incredible comeback after defeating the No. 10, No. 2, and No. 3 seeds earlier this week.
The underdog Bulls showed tremendous grit and determination through every match in the tournament, finishing with a 4-2 redemption over Tulsa who they lost to in last year's title match.
USF opened up the championship match with a doubles point earned through a close tiebreak. Tulsa struck first with a quick 6-2 mark over senior duo Vera Bessonova (Moscow, Russia) and Olga Martinez (Barcelona, Spain), who were a part of the 2014 American Athletic Championship team.
Juniors Jessica Cortes Chaves (Monterrey, Mexico) and Juliana Cardoso (Descalvado, Brazil) answered 6-3 on court two to tie up doubles, and all eyes turned to sophomores Vanja Klaric (Serbia) and Nicole Dzenga (Harare Zimbabwe) on court three.
Klaric and Dzenga were down 5-3 when they were able to break on a deuce point and stay alive. From there, they came back to clinch the point on serve 7-6(6).
Up by one to start singles the Bulls struggled, losing the first set on four courts. However, once again, USF proved to be the dark horse of this tournament as they fought for every point and clawed back to victory.
Cortes Chaves earned a first set win before claiming a singles point for USF when her opponent retired on court six, but Tulsa then posted their first point of the match with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Klaric.
Up 2-1, the Bulls wouldn't give up, going on to take the second set on courts one, two and three sending Ana Roman Dominguez (Spain), Bessonova, and Cardoso to a third set.
The Golden Hurricane tied it up when Cardoso went down on court three, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, but not long after, Bessonova got her redeeming win at the No. 2 spot, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The Bulls were positioned just one point away from being named champions, and Roman Dominguez was tied at 3-3 as Dzenga took the lead on five.
Dzenga, who was undefeated in doubles and 2-1 in singles for the tournament, clinched the match in a third set, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
Results:
Doubles Competition (Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3)
1. Ksenia Laskutova/Mahitha Dadireddy (Tulsa) def. Vera Bessonova/Olga Martinez (USF) 6-2
2. Jessica Cortes Chaves/Juliana Cardoso (USF) def. Rongrong Leenabancho/Martaha Matoula (Tulsa) def. 6-3
3. Nicole Dzenga/Vanja Klaric (USF) def. Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner (Tulsa), 7-6(3)
Singles Competition: (Order of Finish: 6, 4,3,2,5)
1. Ksenia Laskutova (Tulsa) vs. Ana Roman Dominguez (USF), 6-1,4-6,3-3 unfinished
2. Vera Bessonova (USF) def. Rongrong Leenabchong (Tulsa), 6-1,5-7,6-4
3. Mahitha Dadireddy (Tulsa) def. Juliana Cardoao (USF), 6-1, 6(4)-7, 6-1
4. Martina Okalova (Tulsa) def. Vanja Klaric (USF), 6-5,7-5
5. Nicole Dzenga (USF) def. Martha Matoula (Tulsa), 7-5,4-6,6-4
6. Jessica Cortes-Chaves def. Marcelina Cichon 6-1,2-1- retired
Be sure to follow USF women's tennis on social media (Twitter / Facebook / Instagram) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information. The USF women's tennis program returns all singles players from a squad that advanced to the championship match of the conference tournament. Head coach Cristina Moros will be in her second year at the helm of the program after leading USF to an impressive 17-7 season in 2016.
– #GoBulls –
