USF Opens Season at Home Against North Texas, South Carolina
TAMPA (January 18, 2018) – The University of South Florida women's tennis team will open its 2018 season with home matches against North Texas Friday, Jan. 19, and No.15 South Carolina on Sunday, Jan. 21.
USF is coming off an exciting 15-11 season being American Athletic Conference Champions. As the seventh-seed, USF won four consecutive matches including the conference championship to clinch a spot in the program's 13th NCAA Tournament appearance. Not only did they win the conference title, but three Bulls were also granted conference honors including, Coach of the Year Cristina Moro. Sophomore
Ana Roman Dominguez (Spain) and senior
Juliana Cardoso (Brazil) were named All-Conference.
The Bulls also boast one ranked singles player in Roman Dominguez who is No. 97 in the ITA women's singles rankings.
"We are really looking forward to starting on Friday. We've got a tough North Texas game that we played two years ago, and we won 4-3," said coach Moros. "It came down to the last match, so we are definitely expecting a battle. I know they're talented up and down the line just like we are. Come Sunday, we play one of the toughest teams in the country, South Carolina. They have a bunch of ranked players. They're really good up and down the line-up, and look forward to seeing how we measure up next to a team like that."
Scouting the Opponent:
North Texas
North Texas ended their season with a record of 11-12. In their final stretch of the season, they fell to No. 37 Rice in the semifinal round of the Conference USA Tournament.
The Mean Green had a record-breaking award season winning five All-conference awards led by ranked No.41 Junior Maria Kononova, who was named C-USA first team all-conference in singles and doubles. Junior Tamuna Kutubidze earned second team all-conference for singles, junior Minying Liang third team all-conference for singles, and Kutubidze joined Konanova in first team all-conference for doubles.
South Carolina
Last season, the Gamecocks fell to Vanderbilt in the semifinal round of the SEC Tournament, but advanced to their seventh NCAA Sweet 16 in program history.
Along with being on the SEC All-Freshman team and the All-SEC Second team, Sophomore No. 26 Mia Horvit was part of the 2017 Women's Tennis All-America team. The Gamecocks' then freshman finished the season ranked 46th in the nation after a 27-12 season with eight wins over nationally ranked opponents, including two to reach the NCAA Singles Championship Round of 16.
Along with No. 26 in singles Mia Horvit, South Carolina has one other player ranked in the top 50, No. 28 Ingrid Gamarra Martins.
Up Next:
USF will head to Atlanta, Ga. for the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Saturday Jan. 27. Their first match of the weekend is against Georgia Tech at 11 a.m.
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.
Head coach Cristina Moros will be in her third year at the helm of after leading the program to an American Athletic Conference Championship in 2017.
– #GoBulls –
