Men’s Tennis Captures Fifth Conference Title After Comeback Victory Over Top Seeded UCF

[Triple B]

Ladies lost in their championship match to the Kanigits but men add another Spring trophy ...

 

ORLANDO, April 21, 2019 – Third-seeded USF continued its dominance of the American Athletic Conference Championship, mounting a dramatic comeback win over top-seeded UCF, 4-3, Sunday at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona to claim the program's fifth title in six seasons in The American. The victory secured an NCAA Tournament bid for the Bulls.
 
Senior Alberto Barroso-Campos (Montijo, Spain), ranked No. 18 nationally, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after his defeat of No. 35-ranked Gabriel Decamps, 6-1, 6-4, on court one on Sunday to finish the tournament 3-0 in singles with three straight-set victories. Barroso-Campos is now 20-2 in the season.
 
"This is a very special group of guys", says head coach, Ashley Fisher, "and what's exiting is they just keep growing and getting tougher".
 
With wins over sixth-seeded Memphis, fourth-seeded Temple and the top seed UCF, the Bulls improved to 17-1 in the conference tournament, having reached the championship match every season. This title victory came with a lot of grit, as USF trailed 2-0 early before battling back to win four singles matches.
 
USF clinched its fifth American Athletic Conference title on the racket of freshman Chase Ferguson (Melbourne, Australia) who battled for a three-set victory on court two. Ferguson won the first set vs. Alan Rubio, 6-1, but fell in the second, 4-6, to force a third set with the Bulls leading 3-2 and two close matches in progress. Fighting ferociously, the freshman clinched the win with a 6-1 finish in the third.
 
No. 28-ranked UCF (12-9, 5-0) fought for an early lead in doubles. USF's Ferguson and Sergio Gomez Montesa (Valencia, Spain) won on court three, 6-4, but the Knights answered with a court two victory over Ivan Yatsuk (Minsk, Belarus) and Jakub Wojcik (Delray Beach, Fla.), 7-5. A seven-point tiebreaker was forced on the premiere court where the No. 16-ranked doubles duo of Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel beat the No. 87-ranked tandem of Barroso-Campos and Pierre Luquet (Draguignan, France), 7-6 (2), to deliver the Knights the doubles point.
 
No. 46-ranked USF (16-7, 5-1) entered singles action down a point and saw their deficit increase with a court five loss by Gomez Montesa, 6-0, 6-4. Luquet responded with a big win on court three, 6-2, 6-0, to mark his 14th victory of the season and put USF on the board.

Rest of story

 

Footie posted the streaming video of the championship earlier on the AAC board

[Dave_Glaser]

When did UCF get good in . . . everything?

[DELdaBull]

23 minutes ago, Dave_Glaser said:

When did UCF get good in . . . everything?

Cheating always helps

[footnfan1]

I watched it on line, it was a great match.

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

Any win against UCF is a reason to celebrate, especially when a Conference Championship is on the line.......Congrats to the Mens Tennis Team.

Does this mean they get an auto bid to the NCAA Tennis tournament (if they have one)?

[Triple B]

1 hour ago, Jonesy Bull said:

Does this mean they get an auto bid to the NCAA Tennis tournament)?

Yes

[CousinRicky]

4 hours ago, Dave_Glaser said:

When did UCF get good in . . . everything?

Even leading us in Men's Golf and end of 2nd day.

[Triple B]

5 hours ago, Dave_Glaser said:

When did UCF get good in . . . everything?

 

6 minutes ago, CousinRicky said:

Even leading us in Men's Golf and end of 2nd day.

This is a thread about USF winning a conference trophy ...... sometimes this **** gets a little bit much ... smh.

[Dave_Glaser]

31 minutes ago, Triple B said:

 

This is a thread about USF winning a conference trophy ...... sometimes this **** gets a little bit much ... smh.

You're right and my apologies for hijacking the thread. It just struck me when I saw UCF was the top seed in men's AND women's tennis, too. Not that many years ago, they were almost a complete non factor outside of baseball and women's soccer. We dominated the series in everything else. Suddenly, it seems they are the program to beat in the AAC in nearly every sport. I'm just wondering how that happened? It feels like over night.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Dave_Glaser

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

We need to stop what is perceived as obsession.  Ive been a little guilty of it myself so not pointing fingers.

We use to blame them for the same thing....but we need to be better than that.

With that, my sermon has ended.