USF Athletics

Bulls Open Season at Mississippi State and Tulsa

January 18, 2018

TAMPA (Jan. 18, 2018)–  The USF men's tennis team begins the 2018 season on the road against No. 14 Mississippi State, Friday, Jan. 19, and conference opponent Tulsa, Sunday, Jan. 21.
 
Coach Ashley Fisher begins his 2^nd season as head coach of the Bulls after coming off a remarkable 2017 season (18-9) where they defeated rival UCF in the American Athletic Conference championship. The Bulls utilized four straight-set wins to put away UCF in the championship match.
 
USF made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament in its 14^th appearance. Alberto Barroso – Campos returns for his junior season after being named to the doubles all-conference team.  Also earning conference honors, coach Fisher was named the American coach of the year after just one season at the helm of the Bulls.
 
USF has an exciting year ahead including a schedule filled with 11 teams that appeared in the NCAA tournament and seven who were ranked in the ITA Top 25 at the end of the 2017 season.
 
Scouting the Opponents
 
Mississippi State ended its 2017 season in the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament with a loss to Oklahoma. The Bulldogs finished with a 21-9 record, the best of any MSU men's tennis team since 1998. In only his third season, Head Coach Matt Roberts was named ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year, the first Mississippi State coach to win the award since 2013.
 
The Bulls opened up their home slate in 2017 with an exciting Mississippi State matchup. In front of a roaring 300 person crowd, USF upset No. 16 Mississippi State, 4-2, with three nearly simultaneous victories.
 
 
The player to watch against the Bulls in this weekend's match is reigning SEC Player of the Year Nuno Borges (Maia, Porto, Portugal). The junior reached the Semifinals of the NCAA Singles Championship last May as the No. 2 seeded player in the nation. Borges also rallied his way to 36 victories and a .837 winning percentage last season, which is the best single season winning percentage in program history.
 
The Bulldogs (1-0) are at home for their second match of the season after rolling past UAB 7-0 on Sunday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville, Miss. Strahinja Rakic (Belgrade, Serbia), who is ranked 54^th in the nation, sealed the match for MSU, after taking a 6-1, 7-5 decision against UAB's Kenton Parton.
 
Tulsa sealed their fate last season with a loss to UCF in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament that would see them finish the season with a 10-17 record.
 
USF should keep Golden Hurricanes junior Majed Kilani (Tunis, Tunisa) on its radar heading into Sunday's match. The freshman is hot off of winning the American Athletic Conference Player of the Month for October. Kilani also has the conference's Freshman of the Year in 2016 in his trophy cabinet. He capped off his Sophomore season in 2017 with a 13-7 doubles record and a 9-16 singles record.
 
Head Coach Vince Westbrook will be looking for sunnier skies when the Bulls come to town on Saturday after falling to No. 19 ranked Cal in their previous match, placing themselves at 1-2 on this season.
                                                 
Be sure to follow USF men's tennis on social media (Twitter / Facebook / Instagram) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information. Head coach Ashley Fisher will begin his second year at the helm of the program for the 2018 season after leading the Bulls to a conference championship and the NCAA tournament in his first year as head coach during the 2017 season. The USF men's tennis program has won four consecutive American Athletic Conference Championships and advanced to four straight NCAA tournaments.