Men’s tennis team hosts tourney

After postponements and cancellations, the South Florida men’s tennis team will host its first tennis match of the fall season starting today when the Bulls meet Jacksonville, Central Florida and Wake Forest.

Earlier matches were postponed because of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, Tropical Storm Gabrielle and teams pulling out because of coaching changes.

Home-court advantage will be a welcomed ally to the Bulls who have been away in their previous two matches.

“We want the green and yellow support, that keeps our guys fighting,” coach Don Barr said. “It’s a long, hot battle out there, and the more you have people behind you the more you won’t want to shut down.”

Like soccer or football, where you know what the field conditions are, in tennis it helps to know your court condition.”We are used to the speed of our courts and we should be able to jump on them right away,” Barr said.

The speed of a court varies from how much sand is in the mixture when they put down the courts. The less sand there is, the faster the court will be, catering to players who rely on their serve and volleys.

The women’s team will attempt to recover from last week’s disappointing tournament when the Bulls start competition today in Gainesville at the Gator Fall Classic.

The Bulls are using the fall season as a learning time in preparation for the team’s season that starts in January. USF has used its practice time to work on things such as shot selection.

“We’re playing to win but I’m more concerned that we grow and improve our performance more than about winning or losing right now,” coach Sherry Bedingfield said.

Bedingfield has worked with each person individually on what part of their game they need to improve on.

“We’re trying to be a little more offensive this semester, we’ve been known more as grinders in the past,” Bedingfield said.

“We’re thinking more offense, winning points instead of waiting for opponents to make errors.”