Bulls Defeat Cincinnati to Move to the Quarterfinals, 4-1
Lake Nona, Fla., April 22, 2021 – The No. 8-seeded University of South Florida women's tennis team came from behind to take the win over ninth-seeded Cincinnati, 4-1, in the first round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament, Thursday morning at the USTA National Campus.
Freshman
Grace Schumacher (Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia) and sophomore
Margriet Timmermans (Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands) took the first doubles set, for USF, 6-3. Soon after, Cincinnati took courts one (7-5) and three (6-4) to secure the doubles point.
The Bulls (8-14) came out hot to win four of the first six sets in singles.
Laura Pellicer (Gandia, Valencia, Spain) won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, on court one to get the first point for USF. Shortly after, Schumacher and Timmermans extended the lead to 3-1, leaving
Evelyne Tiron (Bucharest, Romania) to clinch the win in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, over Maria Santilli.
Quotable
Head coach Cristina Moros on Thursday's victory:
"It was nice to start the first day off with a win. Playing the conference tournament usually brings up things that you don't feel in the season. So, it was really nice that we got through some of that with a win. We are fighting to survive another day and know that we have a big mountain to climb tomorrow but we're looking forward to enjoying the battle."
Match Results:
Singles competition:
1.
Laura Pellicer (USF) def. Ioana Guna (CIN) 6-2, 6-1
2.
Grace Schumacher (USF) def. Cassie McLay (CIN) 6-3, 6-2
3.
Evelyne Tiron (USF) def. Maria Santilli (CIN) 6-3, 6-4
4.
Alexandria Mjos (USF) vs. Emma Miceli (CIN) 4-6, 6-4, unfinished
5.
Margriet Timmermans (USF) def. Kelli Niehaus (CIN) 6-2, 6-4
6. Lucia Garrigues (USF) vs. Alexia Coutino (CIN) 3-6, 5-5, unfinished
Order of Finish: (1,2,5,3)
Doubles competition:
1. Alexia Coutino/Cassie McLay (CIN) def.
Grace Eland/
Laura Pellicer (USF) 7-5
2.
Grace Schumacher/
Margriet Timmermans (USF) def. Kim Gintrand/Ioana Guna (CIN) 6-3
3. Emma Miceli/Kelli Niehaus (CIN) def.
Alexandria Mjos/
Evelyne Tiron (USF) 6-4
Order of Finish: (2,3,1)
Up Next:
No. 8-seed South Florida moves onto the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament for a rematch against No. 1-seeded UCF, tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at the USTA National Campus.
About Women's Tennis
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 sixth year at the helm, as she led the program to an American Athletic Conference Championship in 2017.
– #GoBulls –
