STATESBORO, GA., MARCH 1, 2020 – USF men's tennis earned its fifth shutout of the season Saturday against Georgia Southern at the Willis Tennis Center. The Bulls charged past the Eagles, 7-0, to cap off a successful weekend in the Peach State.
 
USF (7-4, 0-1) collected the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. Top-court tandem Rithvik Bollipalli (Hyderabad, India) and Jakub Wojcik (Delray Beach, Fla.) earned their third straight win against Murphy McCullough/Santiago Suarez, 6-2.
 
Pierre Luquet (Draguignan, France) and Chase Ferguson (Melbourne, Australia) improved to 8-1 this season with the point-clincher against Jonathan Morales/Pascal Wagemaker, 6-4.
 
The Bulls entered singles with the lead for the third consecutive match and capitalized with a strong sweep.  Sergio Gomez Montesa (Valencia, Spain) remained undefeated and secured the first singles point with a court-five domination over Suarez, 6-1, 6-0. Luquet extended South Florida's lead against Wagemaker on court-three, 6-3, 6-1.
 
Niels Van Noord (Quebec, Montreal) secured the win for the second time this season with a court-six triumph over Neil Kandhai, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Georgia Southern (8-9) dropped the remaining courts after the three straight-set finishers. Wojcik took court two, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, against McCullough before Bollipalli bounced back against Valentin Dun on four, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
 
Ferguson wrapped up the match for USF by coming back against Diego Finkelstein on court one, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Match Results
Doubles
1. Rithvik Bollipalli/Jakub Wojcik (USF) def. McCullough, Murphy/Suarez, Santiago (GS) 6-2
2. Chase Ferguson/Pierre Luquet (USF) def. Morales, Jonathan/Wagemaker, Pascal (GS) 6-4
3. Finkelstein, Diego/Dun, Valentin (GS) def. Sergio Gomez Montesa/Niels Van Noord (USF) 6-4
 
Singles
1. Chase Ferguson (USF) def. Finkelstein, Diego (GS) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Jakub Wojcik (USF) def. McCullough, Murphy (GS) 6-1, 2-6, 6-1
3. Pierre Luquet (USF) def. Wagemaker, Pascal (GS) 6-3, 6-1
4. Rithvik Bollipalli (USF) def. Dun, Valentin (GS) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
5. Sergio Gomez Montesa (USF) def. Suarez, Santiago (GS) 6-1, 6-0
6. Niels Van Noord (USF) def. Kandhai, Neil (GS) 6-3, 6-4
 
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2) Singles (5, 3, 6, 2, 4, 1)
 
 
Quotable
Head coach Ashley Fisher on Saturday's shutout:
"This program is built on the premise of growing by making things tough. This trip, we will have driven 15 hours and played in windy conditions with temperatures between 30-50 degrees. We challenged the guys to make it look like we are playing in optimal conditions and are a team that is not phased. The guys that were able to do that are the ones that got the most out of the weekend. We are always trying to bring our best in terms of ticking the controllable boxes and that is something we are getting more familiar with. When we can get every guy on board with that and start logging in matches like that consecutively, things will get very exciting."
 
Up Next
The Bulls enjoy a weeklong hiatus before returning for a doubleheader at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts on March 11. USF will face Pennsylvania at 9:30 a.m. before challenging UNC-Wilmington at 2 p.m. 
 
 
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