SAN FRANCISCO –– The USF women's tennis team swept the singles and doubles brackets at the Battle in the Battle Classic, taking home two championships on Sunday at the California Tennis Club. 

In the doubles final, USF's Andrea Ka and Thyra Taune defeated Pepperdine's Laura Gulbe and Dzina Milovanovic 8-7(6) in an epic tiebreaker. After a brief intermission, Ka and Gulbe returned to Court 1 for the women's singles championship match. With a chance to bring home two trophies for the Dons, Ka took the first set. Despite being down 3-2, Ka won three games in a row to take a 5-3 lead. After Gulbe won back-to-back games, Ka beared down and won the remaining two games to take the first set 7-5.

In the second set, Gulbe topped Ka in a tiebreaker, winning 7-6(4) to even the match. In the final set, Ka went down 2-1 early but won the next three games to take a 4-2 lead. The two then traded off games, with Ka taking a 5-4 lead. With her teammates and USF fans cheering her on, Ka took the final set and won 6-4, bringing home the first women's singles title in Battle in the Bay Classic history. 

"It was a great performance," said head women's tennis coach Hilary Somers. "I don't think it could have been any more exciting or engaging for the fans. There were so many close sets with the tiebreaking set for doubles and the second set in singles. To be able to pull off both those matches shows the toughness of our girls. This is a great way to start and give them confidence."

After training hard in the offseason, the Battle in the Battle Classic provided a great opportunity for Ka to showcase her play in front of a home crowd. 

"She has worked really hard for all of these fall tournaments coming up and I think she was really mentally ready," Somers said. "She's really excited to have a big win at home like that."

Up Next
The Dons will participate in the California Nike Invitational in Berkeley from Oct. 2 to Oct. 4. 


Men's Results
Singles
Andre Goransson (California) def. Fillip Bergevi (San Diego) 6-1; 2-6; 7-6(4)

Doubles
Andre Goransson/Florian Lakat (California) def. Filip Vittek/Jordan Angus (San Diego) 8-5