Irvine, Calif- USF women's tennis makes one of their biggest comebacks in head coach Hilary Somer's 16 years at USF. After losing the doubles points against UC Irvine, the Dons stepped up and battled it out in singles play for an unbelievable 4-3 win.
"On paper I knew it was going to be a close competitive match," said Somers,"I planned on five hours in the heat with extra Gatorade and bananas, but it was one of those matches that right after I told my team, 'I can't believe we just won that.'"
From losing their doubles point,
Sofia Holmberg retiring at No. 6 singles, to being down 2-0 and just losing their five first sets in the singles bracket, it was not looking good for the Green and Gold.
However,
Andrea Ka's positive attitude and perseverance earned herself a convincing win at No. 1 defeating Sarah Gong, 6-1, 6-0 and set the impetus of success for the team as a whole. To keep the Dons alive,
Milica Hadzi-Tanovic battled back after losing her first set, 3-6, against Mazy Watrous to take the next two sets, 6-4, 6-1.
At the fifth hour of play in the epic comeback,
Genevieve McCloskey and
Thyra Taune sealed the implausible win for USF. Down 4-5 in her 3rd set and then down 6-5,
Genevieve McCloskey saved three match points in her third set to then take the tie breaker 7-3 against Ali Facey. Now all eyes were on Taune; she battled and closed out the 3rd set against Arisha Ladhani, 6-4, to clinch the match.
Next up for the Dons will be Long Beach State at 11 a.m.
USF, 4 UC Irvine, 3Singles | Order to finish: 6,1,3,4,5,2No.1
Andrea Ka (USF) def. Sarah Gong (UC Irvine); 6-1, 6-0
No.2
Thyra Taune (USF) def. Arisha Ladhani (UC Irvine); 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4
No.3 Kat Facey (UC Irvine) def.
Marina Nikolic (USF); 7-6(3), 6-3
No.4
Milica Hadzi-Tanovic (USF) def. Mazy Watrous (UC Irvine); 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
No.5
Genevieve McCloskey (USF) def. Ali Facey (UC Irvine); 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-5 (3)
No.6 Andrea Duva (UC Irvine) def.
Sofia Holmberg (USF); 6-4, 2-0, ret. 1
Doubles | Order to Finish: 3,1,2No.1 K.Facey/A.Facey (UC Irvine) def. Ka/Nikolic (USF); 9-7
No.2 Gong/Ladhani (UC Irvine) def. Hadzi-Tanovic/Teixeira (USF); 8-7
No.3 Dvali/Watrous (UC Irvine) def. Taune/McCloskey (USF); 8-4
