Bulls Ready for First Road Test at Jerry Simmons Invitational
TAMPA, JAN. 25, 2019– USF men's tennis travels to Baton Rouge, La., to face Nicholls State, Saturday Jan. 26 at Noon in the Jerry Simmons Invitational.
The Bulls (1-0) opened their season at home with a 5-2 win over FGCU on Jan. 19. The Eagles opened the match with a pair of doubles wins that put FGCU ahead, 1-0, and followed up with the first singles win on court four. Senior No. 43
Alberto Barroso-Campos (Montijo, Spain) put USF on the board with a 6-0, 6-3, win on court one, and junior
Pierre Luquet clinched the match for USF 7-5, 6-3 on court three.
This weekend will be the first road test as they compete in the eight-team Jerry Simmons Invitational. USF will take on Nicholls State in the opening round and will face either Penn or Louisiana Lafayette next. See the full draw
HERE.
Scouting the Opponent
Nicholls State
Head coach Greg Harkins starts his third season at Nicholls State as his team opens their season against the Bulls. Nicholls State went 5-12 in 2018, and 1-4 in the Southland Conference.
Junior Nestor Giribet Lopez (Spain) returns to the team, having led the Colonels in singles last season going 8-8 in the sixth spot. Sophomore Lewis Cox (England) is back, after a 5-10 singles record during his freshman campaign on court four.
Penn
Jeff Zinn embarks on his eighth year as head coach of Penn State's men's tennis team. Zinn was named in the top ten of Division 1 men's tennis coaches who have the most wins.
The 2018 Nittany Lions finished 16-12 in the regular season, 5-6 in the Big Ten. Constant de La Bassetieri (France) had a successful junior year, obtaining a 15-8 singles record almost exclusively at the premier spot. De La Bassetiere finished the 2018 season with a First-team All-Big Ten award.
Junior Christian Lakoseljac (Canada) returns from a sophomore campaign where he went 15-7 in singles on the second court against three ranked teams and earned the Second-team All-Big Ten honors.
Louisiana Lafayette
Louisiana Lafayette finished 18-10 in the 2018 regular season, ranking 70
th in the nation. Head Coach Mark Jeffrey holds the second highest number of wins in Louisiana, as he starts his 11
th season with the Cajuns.
Ragin' Cajuns junior Elio Lago (Brazil) saw a successful 2018 season, going 6-2 primarily in the second spot. Lago was named to the 2018 LSWA All-Louisiana men's team after an impressive 13-match winning streak.
Pearse Dolan (Australia), and Pierce Gilheany (Australia), were also named to the LSWA All-Louisiana second team. Dolan worked to a 17-4 mark in singles playing primarily in the fifth spot while Gilheany went 3-3 playing primarily in the sixth spot.
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 third year at the helm of the program for the 2019 season after leading the Bulls to their fifth straight appearance in The American Championship.
– #GoBulls –
