TAMPA (Jan. 26, 2016) – In the span of three days, the USF women's tennis team will compete in two matches as they continue their 2015 season. The Bulls will hit the road to take on No. 3 Florida at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27 and then return home on Friday, Jan. 29, to square off against FGCU at noon at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.

The Bulls will be looking to capture their first win of the season after dropping a tightly contested match to St. John's on Jan. 19. The Bulls rallied off three straight wins in singles to take an early 3-1 lead, but ultimately fell to the Red Storm, 4-3.

MATCH POINTS

·         Vera Bessonova (Moscow, Russia) looked sharp in her opening match of season as she defeated her singles opponent in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.

·         Bulls freshman Ana Roman Dominguez (Spain) excelled in her collegiate debut winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-2, in the No. 3 spot.

·         Juliana Cardosa (Descalvado, Brazil) also notched a point for the Bulls against St. John's as she won in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 4 spot.

·         Freshman Nicole Dzenga (Harare, Zimbabwe) is No. 78 in the ITA/Oracle Women's National Singles Rankings after coming into the season not ranked in the top 125.

·         The Bulls will be looking to get a win against a Top 25 team for the first time since February 24, 2012 when they defeated No. 22 FSU, 4-3.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: FLORIDA

The match against the Bulls will be Florida's first match of the season. Florida is coming off a strong 2014-15 season, in which they finished at No. 6 in the final rankings.

The Bulls are 0-8 all-time against Florida since the 2005-06 season. All eight of those matches have been on the road in Gainesville.

The Florida Gator roster consists of seven players who are currently ranked in the ITA/Oracle Rankings. Florida also has five doubles teams ranked in the top 50.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT: FGCU

The Eagles are coming into Friday's match against the Bulls with a record of 0-1 on the season. FGCU squared off against FIU on Jan. 23, dropping the match 4-0.

The match against FGCU will be the fourth time the two teams have played since the 2005-06 season. The Bulls have seen success in all four of those matches, coming out with a 4-0 record. The Bulls are also 2-0 at home in that time frame and won both matches 7-0.

Game Day

The home match against FGCU on Friday will be played at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts at noon and admission is free to the public.

For more information on the USF women's tennis team, follow @USFWomensTennis on Twitter.

- #GoBulls -