Bulls Take Down FGCU in Tiebreakers

Cristina Moros

About Women's Tennis

– #GoBulls –

The University of South Florida women's tennis team produced in crucial moments to earn a 5-2 home win over Florida Gulf Coast University on Saturday.Winning tiebreakers down the stretch helped the Bulls improve to 3-3 on the season and 3-1 at the USF Varsity Courts.Freshman(Manchester, England) and sophomore Laura Pellicer (Gandia, Valencia, Spain) kicked things off with a strong doubles match win, 6-2. Senior(Tauranga, New Zealand) and junior(Bucharest, Romania) clinched the doubles point by defeating FGCU's Lourdes Ramalle and Alba Retortillo, 6-4.FGCU took a 2-1 lead in singles play before the Bulls began to rally back with the help of Eland winning in straight sets on court six, 7-6, 7-6. Tiron then gave the Bulls a 3-2 lead by closing out court four with a stellar performance. After dropping the first set, 4-6, she fought back to win the second set, 6-2, and pulled out the match with a tiebreaker to defeat Sofia Perez, 7-6.In the decisive match, Pellicer dropped her first set, but was able to fight back and win the second set. In the deciding set, Pellicer pushed hard and defeated Maja Ornberg in a tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6, clinching the win for the Bulls.Even with South Florida already clinching the win, play still continued on court three between juniorand Sara Kelly. Another back-and-forth battle led to another third set, which Mjos took home with a 6-2 win."Hats off to FGCU for making us earn this win. Today was exactly what this team needed - to gut out a really tough win. Very proud of the heart our team showed today and can't wait to watch it again tomorrow."1. Laura Perello (USF) def. ORNBERG, Maja (FGCU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-62. MOMOSE, Satomi (FGCU) def.(USF) 6-4, 7-53.(USF) def. KELLY, Sara (FGCU) 6-2, 5-7, 6-24.(USF) def. PEREZ, Sofia (FGCU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-65. RETORTILLO, Alba (FGCU) def. Lucia Garrigues (USF) 2-6, 6-4, 6-46.(USF) def. FERDING, Ida (FGCU) 7-6, 7-6Order of finish: (2,5,6,4,1,3)1.(USF) def. ORNBERG, Maja/PEREZ, Sofia (FGCU) 6-42./Laura Perello (USF) def. MOMOSE, Satomi/FERDING, Ida (FGCU) 6-23.(USF) def. RAMALLE, Lourdes/RETORTILLO, Alba (FGCU) 6-4Order of finish: (2,3,1)USF remains at home to face University of Alabama at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts on Sunday at noon. Admission is free and free pizza will be provided to fans in attendance.Be sure to follow USF women's tennis on social media ( Twitter Instagram ) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information. Head coach Cristina Moros will be in her fifth year at the helm, as she led the program to an American Athletic Conference Championship in 2017.