USF Athletics

USF Men’s Tennis Starts Spring Season Saturday

January 10, 2020

TAMPA, Jan. 10, 2020 – USF men's tennis is ready to kick off the 2020 season against FGCU on Saturday at 5 p.m. in Fort Myers, Fla. The Bulls will be the away team for the first time in their 4-0 history against the Eagles. 
 
USF defeated FGCU most recently in Jan. 2019, 5-2. South Florida has held this opponent to no more than two court wins since 2010.
 
The Bulls come back to campus after a fall full of growth and accomplishments. Returning sophomore Chase Ferguson (Melbourne, Australia) earned his first career singles ranking, coming in at No. 97 in the ITA preseason rankings. Ferguson also reached the singles final at the Bedford Cup at FSU in October. As a duo, he joined Pierre Luquet (Draguignan, France) to defeat Baylor's Christopher and Constantin Frantzen in the Cajun Classic finals, bringing home a doubles title.
 
Recent transfer Rithvik Bollipalli (Hyderabad, India) joined senior Jakub Wojcik (Delray Beach, Fla.) to advance to the final round of doubles action at the ITA Southeast Regionals last October. The tandem defeated Felipe Ramirez and Feliksas Sakalauskas of FGCU in the semifinals, 7-6, 6-7, 1-0 (11-9), to secure their appearance.
 
In November, Ivan Yatsuk (Minsk, Belarus) etched his first career ranked win over No. 78 Axel Nefve from Notre Dame at the Dick Vitale Tournament in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. The sophomore also joined Bollipalli in doubles to reach the Round of 16 that weekend.
 
Overall, the Bulls collected 40 wins in the offseason, one doubles title, and a second-place singles title at the Bedford Cup. It was an impressive fall for USF after finishing the 2019 regular season with its fifth American Athletic Conference title- the most for any conference program.
 
About FGCU
 
Head coach C.J. Weber is back for his ninth season in command of the Eagles, coming off a 14-9 record in 2019 and a tournament-packed fall. Weber and his group look for their first win against the Bulls in program history.  
 
Feliksas Sakalauskas returns for his senior year bringing a 6-7 singles record with him from 2019. Sakalauskas recently teamed up with sophomore Carter Bradford at the Bedford Cup in Tallahassee to secure the B Doubles flight title with an 8-4 victory over Stetson's Gennes and Mills.
 
Fellow senior Felipe Ramirez joined Sakalauskas in the semifinals round of doubles play at the ITA Southeast Regionals. The tandem went 4-3 last season playing between the second and third courts. In solo action Ramirez also led the team in wins on a single court, collecting six on court two.
 
 
Quotable
Head coach Ashley Fisher on the season opener at FGCU:
 
"FGCU is always a tough team that competes well, so this will be a great test to find out where we are. The last three years, we have had our highest ranking of any point in the season as the final ranking. We are challenging our guys to perform at a high level in January, so that when we significantly top that in May. That final number is going to look very special."