DALLAS, Texas (April 18, 2024) – The No. 5 seed University of South Florida Bulls (12-10) began the 2024 AAC Championship on Thursday with a 4-1 victory over the No. 12 seed North Texas Mean Green (12-13).
The No. 59-nationally ranked Bulls advance to the quarterfinals on Friday to face the No. 57-nationally ranked Rice Owls. Rice is the four seed in the AAC Championship.
"Our team once again proved how tough they are, competing against a hot UNT team," said head coach Cristina Moros. "We didn't start off great, but that turned when we got to singles play and we just kept the momentum from there. This team loves battling together as a group and I was very pleased with the energy they brought during singles. We need to make some adjustments for tomorrow to give us a shot against a very tough Rice team."
The Mean Green entered the day coming off a 4-1 win over ECU in the opening round of the tournament on Wednesday. UNT proceeded to take the doubles point from South Florida and force the Bulls to come from behind in single actions.
USF was up to the task and made a clean sweep of the singles courts for the team win.
Grace Schumacher got things going for the Bulls with a 6-3, 6-1 victory on Court 1. Gargi Pawar was next with a 6-0, 6-3 win on Court 6 and Marta Falceto Font gave South Florida a 3-1 team advantage with a 6-0, 6-3 triumph on Court 4.
Nadja Bay Christians clinched the match on Court 2 with a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Up Next
The Bulls will return to the courts in Dallas on Friday, April 19 against the Rice Owls. South Florida will look to avenge a 4-0 loss to Rice which occurred less than two weeks ago on a neutral court in Miami.
About Women's Tennis
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Head coach Cristina Moros, a former collegiate national champion and four-time All-American, is in her ninth year at the helm entering the 2023-24 season. She was named the 2017 AAC Coach of the Year after leading the Bulls to the conference championship that season.
– #GoBulls –
