2015 was a historic season for South Florida with the Tampa-based Bulls making its first ever appearance in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. USF started playing tennis in 1966 (school founded in 1956) and prior to last season they had made the NCAAs 10 times (not bad) but had only managed to get past the first round on 5 occasions. Head coach Matt Hill was able to get his 2014 team into the second round (beat Florida State 4-2) but after dropping a tough doubles point to Florida, and then enduring a 3-hour rain delay, the Gators were just too strong in singles and shut them out 4-0.
The experience of making it to the second round had to give the team a belief that they belonged with the big boys but after winning its first 3 matches in 2015 the Bulls dropped 4 of its next 5. The toughest loss of the 4 came when Penn State beat them 4-1 which denied them a shot at qualifying for the National Team Indoors for the first time in school history. Instead of packing it in the team rallied and won 9 straight before losing a 4-3 heartbreaker at Tulsa. The Bulls would avenge that loss to Tulsa in the finals of The American Conference Tournament and rise to #18 but they’d just miss out on hosting a NCAA regional. South Florida traveled to Blacksburg for the Virginia Tech regional and after shutting out Boise State in the first round they’d surprisingly do the same to the host Hokies in the second round. South Florida drew Baylor in the Sweet Sixteen and stood toe to toe with the hosts before falling 4-1 (more on this match at the very bottom of this post).
Matt Hill took over as head coach in the summer of 2012 and he’s managed to one up his win total each season going 12-10 in 2013, 19-7 in 2014, and then 21-7 in 2015. This year’s schedule is one of the toughest in school history so getting to 22 wins won’t be easy but if the guys stay healthy and play to their abilities it’s reachable.
Hill brings back 5 starters from last year’s team with Oliver Pramming the lone departure. Pramming went 10-6 in singles last year splitting time between #2, #3, and #4 while he and Justin Roberts teamed up to go 12-8 in doubles playing almost entirely at #1.
#13 Robert Cid (Sr) will be back at #1 again after going 14-5 last season. Cid beat 4 ranked players this fall with 3 of those coming in route to winning the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional. Cid made it to his first career Futures final over the summer while playing in Turkey.
Dominic Cotrone (RSr) should play at #2 after sitting out last season due to his transfer from Florida State. The former FSU #1 had a nice fall picking up 2 ranked wins at the ITA All-Americans and he closed out the summer by beating Stanford’s Tom Fawcett and Illinois’s Jared Hiltztik at the Decatur Futures. It’s interesting that he played #1 on the FSU team that South Florida beat in 2014 and now he’ll be a part of the South Florida team that faces FSU in the season opener.
#52 Sasha Gozun (Jr) went 14-6 last season with 10 of those results coming at #2 and that was after he went 3-5 in the fall. This past fall wasn’t Gozun’s best either with him going 1-5 with 4 of those losses coming against ranked opponents. Gozun will likely play at #3 this season.
Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz (Sr) didn’t play any college events this fall after going 10-9 in dual-match play last season with his time mainly spent between #3 and #4. He did play the Pensacola Futures in November making it to the third round of qualies before falling to Canada’s Denis Shapovalov. I’d expect Gonzalez-Muniz to play at either #4 or #5 this season.
Justin Roberts (So) went 14-5 in dual-match play last season with most of his matches coming at #5. The sophomore from the Bahamas had some quality wins this fall over Columbia’s Victor Pham, Georgia’s Walker Duncan, and North Florida’s #59 Jack Findel-Hawkins. Roberts also earned his first ATP points by making a run to the quarterfinals at the Dominican Republic F3 Futures. Roberts should play no lower than #5 but could play at #4 depending on how Gonzalez-Muniz performs.
Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (Jr) and Georgia transfer Peter Bertran (So) will be duking it for the #6 spot in the singles lineup. Kalyuzhnyy went 13-5 last season splitting time between #5 and #6 while Bertran went 2-0 at #6 in a back-up role for the Bulldogs. Bertran had the better fall record and did beat Florida State’s Marco Nunez but I’m not sure it’s enough to bump Kalyuzhnyy. I think both are good choices at #6 but Kalyuzhnyy may be the safer option to start the year.
Everth Dzib (Sr) and Sebastian Butler (Fr) will only see action if there are some injuries in the lineup.
South Florida won the doubles point almost 80% of the time last season (22-6) so I’d expect them to be strong again this year despite losing Pramming. Cid teamed up with Gonzalez-Muniz last season to go 17-2 at #3 so it’d be odd if they didn’t play again this season. Gozun and Kalyuzhnyy went 12-7 last season playing at #2 while Roberts and Pramming went 12-8 at #1. Justin Roberts and Roberto Cid were ranked #20 in the preseason while Sasha Gozun and Dominic Cotrone were ranked #40 so maybe we’ll see those guys paired up during the season – time will tell.
Below are each players summer/fall college records (singles/doubles) along with a list of accomplishments. The ranking listed in front of a player is the ITA preseason ranking.
Dominic Cotrone (4-2/3-2) – beat #62 Mitch Stewart (Washington) and #104 Nick Wood (Georgia) before falling in the final round of qualies at the ITA All-Americans, made it to the doubles quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional (w Gozun), made it to the singles Round of 16 at the Southeast Regional. Pro – beat former Georgia #1 Wil Spencer and former Virginia #1 Michael Shabaz in route to a semifinal finish at the Rochester USA F18 Futures, won the doubles title at the Rochester USA F18 Futures (w Q Vega), won the doubles title at the Godfrey USA F22 Futures (w J Arconada), at the Decatur USA F24 Futures he beat Stanford’s Tom Fawcett in the final round of qualies and then beat Illinois’ Jared Hiltzik and ATP #235 Ramkumar Ramanathan before falling in the quarterfinals
#52 Sasha Gozun (1-5/4-4) – made it to the doubles quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional (w Cotrone)
Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz (0-0) – made it to the 3rd round of qualies at the Pensacola USA F33 Futures
Justin Roberts (5-5/6-3) – made it to the consolation semifinals at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional, made it to the doubles quarterfinals at the Southeast Regional (w Cid), went 3-0 in doubles at the Crimson Tide Four-In-The-Fall (w Bertran). Pro – qualified for the Dominican Republic F2 & F3 Futures and made it to the quarterfinals at the F3 which included a win over ATP #415 Juan Galarza. He earned his first 3 ATP points with the 2 main draw wins at the F3.
Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (1-4/1-3) – won his first round match at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional
Peter Bertran (3-3/3-1) – made it to the Round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional, went 3-0 in doubles at the Crimson Tide Four-In-The-Fall (w Roberts). Pro – qualified for the Turkey F24 Futures before falling to Roberto Cid 6-4 in the 3rd.
Everth Dzib (3-1, 0-0) – won 2 qualifying matches and 1 main draw match at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional
Sebastian Butler (2-3/0-0) – made it to the final round of qualies at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional
Projected Depth Chart:
1. Roberto Cid
2. Dominic Cotrone
3. Sasha Gozun
4. Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz
5. Justin Roberts
6. Vadym Kalyuzhnyy
7. Peter Bertran
8. Everth Dzib
9. Sebastian Butler
Players With A Current ATP Singles Ranking as of 1/4/16 – high in ( )
#978 – Roberto Cid (887)
#1026 – Dominic Cotrone (1010)
#1436 – Justin Roberts (1436)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 1/3/16:
14.45 – Roberto Cid
14.34 – Dominic Cotrone
13.57 – Sasha Gozun
13.51 – Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz
13.37 – Vadym Kalyuzhnyy
13.26 – Justin Roberts
13.10 – Peter Bertran
12.56 – Everth Dzib
11.91 – Sebastian Butler (80%)
Universal Tennis Rating as of 6/3/15
14.30 – Roberto Cid
14.07 – Dominic Cotrone
13.78 – Oliver Pramming (graduated)
13.69 – Sasha Gozun
13.55 – Peter Bertran
13.32 – Vadym Kalyuzhnyy
13.31 – Justin Roberts
13.30 – Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz
12.89 – Finn Meinecke (not on current roster)
12.59 – Sebastian Butler
12.29 – Everth Dzib
Pre-College Ratings/Rankings:
Peak ITF Junior Ranking:
#97 – Peter Bertran
#110 – Vadym Kalyuzhnyy
#120 – Roberto Cid
#129 – Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz
#162 – Justin Roberts
#267 – Sebastian Butler
#470 – Everth Dzib
#505 – Sasha Gozun
TennisRecruiting.Net Star Rating/High Ranking (Americans Only)
Blue Chip #3 – Sasha Gozun
Blue Chip #11 – Roberto Cid
5-star #14 – Peter Bertran
5-star #43 – Dominic Cotrone
TRN Yearly Recruiting Rankings:
2015 – NR – (Butler)
2014 – NR – (Roberts)
2013 – #10 – (Cid, Gozun, Kalyuzhnyy, Meinecke)
2012 – NR – (Dzib, Gonzalez-Muniz)
NR = Not Ranked
Note: Peter Bertran was part of Georgia’s #2 recruiting class in 2014, Dominic Cotrone was part of Florida State’s 2011 recruiting class
2016-17 Recruiting Class:
Benjamin Hannsted – Vedbaek, Denmark – UTR 13.67
Mathieu Scaglia – Frejus, France – UTR 12.84 (80%)
USF comes back home for the next 6 weeks with TCU, Ohio State, and Oklahoma coming to Tampa in addition to the Bulls hosting a pair of tournaments. Penn St, Troy, and UNC Wilmington come in for the Spring Break Tournament while Pepperdine, North Florida, and VCU come in for the Quad Tourney.
USF finishes out its regular season schedule by playing 5 conference matches with the final 3 coming on the road against Tulane, Tulsa, and Memphis.
Returning depth: Everth Dzib
Departing depth: Finn Meinecke
Departing doubles starters: Pramming (1)
I’d be surprised if USF lost to either Florida State or LSU but I think they’ll get beat by Texas A&M on February 7th. I’d consider a 1-2 record at the National Indoors a successful weekend when you take into account the heavy hitters that will be there in Charlottesville. They host Oklahoma, TCU, and Ohio State and I think 1 of those 3 will spend a little too much time at the beach and get upset. I’ll predict a 20-7 regular season, another AAC title, and another trip to the Sweet Sixteen. If they get the right matchup they could end up in the Elite 8 but that’s probably the ceiling.
South Florida gave the NCAA host Baylor Bears all they wanted in the Round of 16. The Bulls looked good in doubles but couldn’t hold on to a break lead at #1 and ended up losing both #1 and #2 in tiebreaks. South Florida fought hard in singles by picking up a win from Oliver Pramming at #3 and Sasha Gozun was up big at #2 at the time of the clinch. If USF could have held onto the doubles point the match would have likely been 3-3 and came down to #5 which was early in the third – recap
6. Felipe Rios (BU 14.17) def. Vadym Kalyuzhnyy (USF 13.34) 6-1, 6-4
USF Notes:
South Florida was the 56th different school to make the NCAA Sweet Sixteen since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1999.
Matt Hill is the 8th coach in school history but after 3 years he’s already 5th on the all-time wins list. Don Barr is #1 with 235 career wins from 1992 to 2012.
In June 2013, USF received a $500K gift from Thomas James, Executive Chairman of Raymond James Financial, to build a new tennis center. Construction on the facility will begin once the additional $1.5M is raised and once completed the facility will be named the James Tennis Center.
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