Sluggish Bulls best Georgia State 4-3

Coming off a victory against Tulane in the Conference USA Shootout, the USF men’s tennis team extended its winning streak to six matches after beating Georgia State Panthers 4-3 Wednesday.

The Bulls (7-2) started slowly, showing the effects of a strenuous 4-2 victory against Tulane Sunday, dropping the doubles point to the Panthers (6-5).

In the No. 1 doubles match, Paco Antelo and Renato Silveira were leading 3-1, as the Panthers’ Luka Bernard and Miha Lisac battled back. Bernard and Lisac were just too much for Antelo and Silveira, as they beat the duo 8-6 in one hour and 40 minutes.

“I was disappointed about the doubles match,” Silveira said. “We shouldn’t have lost. Our heads just weren’t into it.”

Silveira, who came back to win his singles match 7-5, 6-4 against Albano Franco, was named C-USA Co-Player of the Week for the period ending Monday.

The bright spots of the day came in singles competition, as the Bulls won the four singles matches needed to earn the victory.

One of the toughest singles matches came at the No. 1 position, where Uli Kiendl took on Georgia State’s Matis Ormaza.

“In the first set, I played very well,” said Kiendl. “It was easy for me to adjust to my opponent because he used to play on clay courts and I grew up on them. I broke down and lost concentration in the second set. In the third set, we used new balls, which helped me power my serve to a victory.”

“It was a tough battle and a good comeback,” said USF coach Don Barr. “They came after us with their ‘A’ game, and we lucked out with a win.”

The Bulls travel to South Alabama and seek to continue their hot streak against the Jaguars Saturday.

“We need to be the attacker and go after this team,” said Barr. “We need to play our game and be careful. Even though we are the favorite, we need to be the hunter and hunt them down.”