Match Details
(9) South Florida 4, (8) Temple 3
South Florida (6-15), Temple (11-6)
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 | 4 p.m. ET
Tulsa, Okla. | Michael D. Case Tennis Center

TULSA, Okla. (April 20, 2022) – The ninth-seeded University of South Florida women's tennis team turned in an epic comeback on Wednesday in the American Athletic Conference Championship first round, defeating eighth-seeded Temple, 4-3, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.

Laura Pellicer and Margriet Timmermans won their respective singles matches in three sets to help the Bulls overcome a 3-1 deficit and rally for the victory in a near-three-and-a-half-hour contest. Pellicer's win marked her team-best fourth-straight.

Temple had built a 3-1 lead by claiming the doubles point and straight-set victories at No. 6 and No. 5 singles by Evie Wei and Yining Tian sandwiched between a win at No. 2 singles by the Bulls' Sierra Berry.

Needing wins at both the No. 3 and No. 4 positions to take the match, South Florida's Timmermans claimed her second set 7-5 before outlasting Veronika Kulhava for a 6-4 third set to tie the team score at 3-3. That turned the focus to the No. 3 match, where Pellicer trailed 4-2 in the third set before taking the last four games in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

South Florida, which improved to 13-5 all-time in the American Athletic Conference Championship with the win, will face top-seeded and No. 19-ranked UCF Thursday at noon CT/1 p.m. ET in the quarterfinals.

The win snaps the Green and Gold's five-match skid.

Match Results
Doubles
1. Stefaniya Surikova/Jamie Wei (TEM) def. Sierra Berry/Amelie Boy (USF) 6-1
2. Grace Schumacher/Margriet Timmermans (USF) def. Sena Takebe/Evie Wei (TEM) 6-1
3. Veronika Kulhava/Yining Tian (TEM) def. Laura Pellicer/Selin Yaylali (USF) 6-4
 
Order of finish for doubles: (2,1,3)
 
Singles
1. Grace Schumacher (USF) def. Vineetha Mummadi (TEM) 6-3, 7-5
2. Sierra Berry (USF) def. Stefaniya Surikova (TEM) 6-3, 6-2
3. Laura Pellicer (USF) def. Jamie Wei (TEM) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. Margriet Timmermans (USF) def. Veronika Kulhava (TEM) 2-6, 7-5, 6-4
5. Yining Tian (TEM) def. Amelie Boy (USF) 6-3, 7-5
6. Evie Wei (TEM) def. Selin Yaylali (USF) 6-2, 6-3
 
Order of finish for singles: (6,2,5,1,4,3)

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 seventh year at the helm, as she led the program to an American Athletic Conference Championship in 2017.