USF Athletics

Bulls Fall in Second Round to No. 1 Seed Florida, 1-4

May 09, 2021

TAMPA, Fla., May 9, 2021 – The University of South Florida men's tennis team fell in the second round of the NCAA tournament to one-seed Florida on Sunday. The Bulls secured the doubles point after strong performances on courts two and three in the 1-4 deficit. 

New pair Alvin Tudorica (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and Manuel Goncalves (Porto, Portugal) continued their positive stride after defeating Brian Berdusco and Will Grant, 6-4. Hot hands and close saves from Rithvik Bollipalli (Hyderabad, India) and Antonio Muniz-Hidalgo (Barcelona, Spain) seized the doubles point in a 7-6 tiebreak decision against Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton. 

Heading into singles with the advantage, the Bulls continued to battle and push each point to the bitter end. Pierre Luquet (Draguignan, France), Sergio Gomez Montesa (Valencia, Spain) and Muniz-Hidalgo fell in straight sets, putting the top seeded Gators within one. Ivan Yatsuk's (Minsk, Belarus) loss to No. 18 Andy Andrade, 2-6, 4-6, sealed a Florida win on their home courts. No. 63 Chase Ferguson (Melbourne, Australia) kept a close competition to No. 6 Riffice 5-7, 3-1 before his match went unfinished, as did No. 47 Jakub Wojcik (Delray Beach, Fla.) versus No. 4 Duarte Vale, 5-7, 1-3. 

 

Quotable
Head coach Ashley Fisher on today's loss...
"Our boys showed a lot of growth and as we always do got better as the year went on. We played some incredible doubles the last two days and I was so happy for Manu and Alvin today aswell as Sonny and Toni coming through the way they did. All nine of us contributed the last two days which is what it's all about. We will learn from this year and continue building and climbing. The quest for excellence never ends and I believe we have a group that can create history next year. Thank you to everyone that supported us and made this season possible. We will forever be grateful for the opportunity to represent USF."

 

Up Next
Singles player No. 47 Wojcik and doubles duo No. 24 Bollipalli and Wojcik compete in the NCAA Individual Championship set to begin Sunday, May 23.

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 fifth year at the helm of the program for the 2021 season. 
– #GoBulls –