The Tribune

JUSTIN Roberts, the Bahamian sophomore, claimed his first college singles win of the season on Friday and helped the University of South Florida’s men’s tennis team to victory.

On a beautiful Friday in Tampa, the 14th-ranked USF took down No. 55 South Carolina 4-1 with Roberts capping off the match on court four with a 7-6, 6-4 win.

Fighting game-by-game in the first set, momentum was with Roberts in the second as he clinched the match for the Bulls. After a rough start to the season, the sophomore broke his slump to pick up his first win of the year.

“He’s been putting in the work and doing the right things, and just hadn’t gotten the results yet,” head coach Matt Hill said. 

“I think today was a great example of how he stayed with his game plan and it paid off for him.”

“I think it’ll help him a lot moving forward, he’s playing great tennis and it’s great to see him putting it together in the big moments now.”

The Bulls started the day by clinching the doubles point for an advantage heading into singles play. At the No. 2 spot, Sasha Gozun (Orhei, Moldova) and Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (Donetsk, Ukraine) dominated, 6-3. The pairing moved to 5-2 this season.

In the No. 3 position, Roberto Cid and Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz trailed 5-3, but avenged their early deficit by winning the match 7-6 (7-4). No. 40 Dominic Cotrone (Bradenton, Fla) and Roberts were on the brink of clinching their own win when their opponents rallied. 

The top player for USF, No. 7 Cid, proved why he is a top 10 player, demolishing Alex Fennell, 6-1, 6-0 in the premier singles.

“It’s big actually, because I’ve been losing the first set quite a bit,” Cid said. “One of my goals today was to have a strong start, win the first couple games and just keep rolling. I think I did that, for sure, so I am happy, definitely, to win in straight sets.”

Gonzalez-Muniz continued to anchor the back end, with a 6-3, 6-2 result. He moved to 5-2 on the year, defeating South Carolina’s Wood Benton. 

With the victory, the Bulls improve their record to 5-3 and undefeated at home (3-0).

On Sunday, the USF men’s tennis team needed just under two hours to show why they’re one of the top ranked teams in the nation, defeating No. 17 San Diego, 4-0, at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. This is the second win over San Diego this season as the Bulls faced the Toreros at the ITA National Indoor Championships last week in Charlottesville.

The Bulls will look to defend their title in the Blue Gray Classic, hosted in Montgomery, Alabama. on Thursday afternoon. The draw will be released tomorrow.