Bulls Kickoff American Athletic Conference Play Against SMU Mustangs on Friday
TAMPA, Feb. 20, 2020 – USF men's tennis heads to the Lone Star State this weekend to begin conference action against SMU and challenge No. 12 TCU. The Bulls take on the Mustangs in Dallas on Friday at 3 p.m. and face the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
South Florida (5-2) has had a strong start to 2020: collecting shutouts against Stetson, FGCU and FAU, and posting the best record since 2014. This hustle helped USF check in at No. 40 in the ITA's first Top 50 list of the season- one of four AAC schools in the rankings.
Chase Ferguson (Melbourne, Australia) leads the Bulls in singles wins with a 5-1 record on court No. 1. The recent American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year is set to start in his first conference match since clinching USF's fifth American title against rival-UCF last April.
Ferguson is joined by
Pierre Luquet (Draguignan, France) in doubles where they lead the team in wins, 5-1.
Rithvik Bollipalli (Hyderabad, India) and
Jakub Wojcik (Delray Beach, Fla.) occupy the premiere court, currently 1-3.
USF went 4-1 in American Athletic Conference contention last season and holds the conference record for most championship wins (five).
Scouting the Mustangs
SMU will host the Bulls, Friday at 3 p.m. at the SMU Tennis Complex. Grant Chen returns in his second year as head coach for the Mustangs after leading the group to a
12-17 (0-5 AAC) record in 2019.
SMU (8-4) is back on home courts after a 1-3 away run, falling to LSU, Old Dominion and fellow conference member Tulane in the process. The Mustangs are most effective on home courts this season, holding a 5-1 record while in Dallas.
Caleb Chakravarthi maintains the premiere court for SMU, holding a 5-3 record from the spot. The junior ties Ethan Leon, Carles Sarrio and Jordi Redelijk with most singles wins this season (five).
Leon and Sarrio hold the most wins on the top doubles court (two) while Huntley Allen and Jan-Simon Vrbsky form a formidable tandem, 3-1 from all three courts.
The Bulls best the Mustangs overall, 6-1, with the most recent South Florida win from last March at SMU, 5-2.
Scouting the Horned Frogs
No. 12 TCU is back home in Fort Worth, Texas after four away matches to face USF on Sunday. David Roditi returns for his tenth year at the helm after commanding the team to a 22-7 record and NCAA Championship quarterfinal appearance in 2019.
TCU (5-4) ended a four-match losing streak this past weekend with upsets against
No. 10 N.C. State and No. 7 Texas A & M at the ITA Indoor Nationals Championship in Madison, Wisc. TCU previously fell to fellow Top 20 programs, Michigan, North Carolina and USC.
The Horned Frogs house three ranked singles athletes: No. 50 Alastair Gray, No. 79 Luc Fomba and No. 117 Jacob Fearnley. Fomba leads the team in singles wins (five) and is undefeated on court three, 3-0. Gray maintains the top court, 3-2.
Alastair Gray joins Fearnley as the No. 18 doubles duo, currently 4-2 on the top court. Luc Fomba pairs up with junior Bertus Kruger to lead TCU in doubles wins, 6-1.
The Horned Frogs lead the Bulls overall, 5-0, with their latest win from 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas, 6-1.
Quotable
Head coach Ashley Fisher on beginning conference action against SMU…
"We are excited to get on the road and battle some great programs. SMU is a program on the rise and just four years from a Sweet 16 season, so we know we need to be ready to bring our best competitive effort across the line-up. We are beginning to understand that dealing with whatever tennis shows up day-to-day and managing expectations is a huge part of how much success we will have. We expect to maintain a certain look and attitude that is not contingent on the scoreboard or who we are playing
."
on TCU…
"The team is excited to compete this weekend. Conference competition is a big part of our season and taking shots at ranked programs also motivates us. We don't want to put too much stock into rankings though as the only ones that count are the final ones. TCU has some great players, but so do we and we know Sunday is about playing good aggressive tennis for a few hours and when we do that anything is possible."
About Men's Tennis
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 fourth year at the helm of the program for the 2019 season after leading the Bulls to their fifth American Conference Championship title.
– #GoBulls –
