No. 23 Alabama Men's Tennis Falls in a Heart-Breaker to USF, 4-3, in Round One of NCAA Championships

Friday, May 3

Austin, Texas

12 p.m..CT

Alabama

USF

Photo by: for Statesman

No. 23 Alabama Men's Tennis Falls in a Heart-Breaker to USF, 4-3, in Round One of NCAA Championships

5/3/2019 9:10:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Results (PDF)Photo Gallery

The Crimson Tide finishes its season with a 16-11 record

AUSTIN, Texas – The No. 2 seed Alabama fell in a heartbreaking 4-3 match against No. 3 seed South Florida in the first round of the NCAA Championships on Friday at the Austin Regional in Austin, Texas. With the loss, the 23^rd-ranked Crimson Tide concludes its season at 16-11, while the 37^th-ranked Bulls (18-7) move on to face No. 2 Texas on Saturday.

After rain in the morning pushed the back to a 12 p.m. CT start, the Bulls came out and seized the doubles point to begin the match. USF won on court three before Alabama bounced back with a tightly-contested 7-6(5) win from the No. 11 doubles pair in the country in senior Mazen Osama and sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta against No. 88 Luquet/Barroso-Campos. The point came down to the No. 2 spot where the Bulls' Yatsuk/Wojcik squeaked out a win over junior Edson Ortiz and sophomore Riccardo Roberto, 7-6(6).

"There's plenty to be proud of this season and plenty to motivate us for next year," said head coach George Husack. "We improved greatly as competitors through our desire, focus, intensity and purpose. There's room to continue that growth and I'm excited to see it unfold."

In singles, the majority of matches made it through the first set before play was halted for a rain delay and eventually moved across town the Whaling/Snyder Indoor Courts. After a total of five hours in delays, play started back up again.

The Bulls captured the first singles point on court two with Chase Ferguson besting No. 106 Ortiz, 6-4, 6-1. Alabama responded with sophomore Jeremy Gschwendtner dominating Sergio Gomez-Montesa, 6-3, 6-2, making it 2-1 in favor of USF. South Florida extended its lead after earning a three-set win at the No. 3 position.

The match came down to the wire after No. 47 Osama pushed past No. 15 Alberto Barroso-Campos in a three-set thriller, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4) to make it 3-2 and junior Zhe Zhou won in three sets over Jakub Wojcik, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3, to tie it at 3-3. The Bulls closed it out to advance to the next round after Ivan Yatsuk defeated junior Alexey Nesterov, 7-5, 7-6(3).

Next up, Osama will participate in the NCAA Singles Championships along with the NCAA Doubles Championships with Kaukovalta beginning on May 20 in Orlando, Fla.

Alabama Results

Doubles

No. 11 Osama/Kaukovalta def. No. 88 Luquet/Barroso-Campos, 7-6(5)
Yatsuk/Wojcik def. Ortiz/Roberto, 7-6(6)
Ferguson/Gomez-Montesa def. Fischer/Zhou, 6-4

Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2

Singles

No. 47 Mazen Osama def. No. 15 Alberto Barroso-Campos, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4)
Chase Ferguson def. No. 106 Edson Ortiz, 6-4, 6-1
Pierre Luquet def. Riccardo Roberto, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Zhe Zhou def. Jakub Wojcik, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3
Jeremy Gschwendtner def. Sergio Gomez-Montesa, 6-3, 6-2
Ivan Yatsuk def. Alexey Nesterov, 7-5, 7-6(3)

Order of Finish: 2, 5, 3, 1, 4, 6

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