Alabama
USF
No. 23 Alabama Begins NCAA Championships with First Round Matchup Against USF in Austin Regional
5/2/2019 11:27:00 AM | Men's Tennis
The Crimson Tide and Bulls will square off in Austin, Texas on Friday at 10 a.m. CT
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 23 Alabama is set to take on No. 37 USF on Friday, May 3 at 10 a.m. CT in the first round of the NCAA Championships at the Austin Regional. The Crimson Tide (16-10) come in as the No. 2 seed in the regional, while the Bulls are the No. 3 seed (17-7).
Alabama leads the all-time series between the two programs with an 8-2 record. The last time the teams met was back on Feb. 20 2004 with USF taking the 4-3 victory, the last time the Tide downed the Bulls was on March 12, 2003, 4-3.
Junior Edson Ortiz leads the Crimson Tide this dual match season with a 16-6 record while primarily playing at the No. 2 spot in singles. Most recently, Ortiz and senior Mazen Osama were named First Team All-SEC. Osama is currently ranked No. 47 in the latest Oracle/ITA Singles Rankings, while Ortiz came in at No. 106 in the nation. Osama along with sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta also came in at No. 11 in the country in the newest doubles rankings.
Sophomore Jeremy Gschwendtner has stepped up this season at the No. 6 spot. The London, England native, has a 12-3 mark in his first season of collegiate tennis. At the No. 5 position, junior Zhe Zhou has an impressive 13-6 record in dual match season, including winning his last three singles matches.
Last season, the Tide made a historic run to the Round of 16 after defeating No. 2 seed Tulane and then besting No. 1 seed and host Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional. Alabama eventually fell to the No. 5 national seed Texas A&M in the Sweet 16 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
South Florida comes into the NCAA Tournament after winning the American Athletic Conference Tournament Title to earn an automatic bid. The Bulls have one doubles pair nationally-ranked in No. 88 Alberto Barroso-Campos and Pierre Luquet. The duo sports a 9-7 record at the No. 1 spot. In singles, Barroso-Campos boasts a 20-2 mark all at the No. 1 spot and is currently ranked No. 15 in the nation.
The match will have a live stream along with live scoring available. The winner of Friday's match will take on the winner of No. 1 seed Texas and No. 4 seed Tennessee Tech on Saturday, May 4 at 3 p.m. CT.
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Players Mentioned
