Bulls beat UCF in home debut

The USF Women’s Tennis team finally played on their home courts, against an unranked team for the first time this season – a welcome sight for a team reeling with five straight losses after a 1-0 start.

The Bulls (2-5) took advantage of a home crowd and easier opponent for a relatively easy win, dropping the Knights (3-3) by a score of 6-1.

“Although UCF isn’t ranked, they are still a very tough team to beat,” senior Irene Rehberger said. “But having lost five straight matches, playing at home allowed us to get our confidence up and get a victory.”

Coach Agustin Moreno agreed with the difficulty of their opponent.

“UCF is our rival, and they are a very hard team to beat and it was nice to get a win,” he said.

The match started in positive fashion for the Bulls as they were able to claim the doubles point.

USF’s Loreto Alonso Martinez and Ecaterina Vasenina, dominated from the start, quickly winning their match 8-2.

USF freshmen Alessandra Bonte and Kate Parker played a hotly contested match going back and forth, finally taking down UCF’s Taylor Dubins and Jenna Doerfler.

With a doubles win behind them, the Bulls only needed to win three of the six singles matches. The girls came out aggressive, with three of their top four players winning quickly and easily.

Playing in the No. 1 slot, Rehberger was dominant in winning her match 6-0, 6-2. No. 2 Vasenina took down her opponent in similar fashion, 6-2, 6-1. No. 4 Martinez sealed up the match with a win 6-3, 6-0. USF’s No. 6, Kate Parker, lost 6-0, 6-1, Bejikova and Bonte won the remaining matches, 6-2, 6-4 and 6-0, 6-4, respectively.

“It was nice to get back on track with a victory,” Moreno said. “We have had a very tough schedule, one of the toughest in the nation to start out.”

USF now heads back on the road for matches against Texas on Friday and Arizona State on Saturday in Austin, Tex.