ORLANDO, Fla. – USF freshman Chase Ferguson won the clinching match at No. 2 singles seconds after UCF had tied the score as the Bulls won their fifth American Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis Championship in six years with a 4-3 victory against the Knights Sunday afternoon at the USTA National Campus.
 

USF improved to 17-1 all-time in the six-year history of The American Championship as the Bulls returned to the top spot in the conference after falling to Tulane in last year’s final.
 
USF’s Alberto Barroso-Campos, who won all three of his singles matches at the No. 1 position, including a straight-set win against the No. 35-ranked player nationally in Sunday’s final, was chosen as the tournament’s most outstanding player.
 
Barroso-Campos’ win Sunday was part of a stretch of three straight singles victories for USF, which needed to win four singles contests to offset an early 2-0 deficit.
 
USF survived an early opportunity to take the lead in the doubles round as the Bulls had match point on all three courts in the respective matches. But the Bulls took only one of the three doubles contests as UCF battled back to claim wins at No. 1 and No. 2.
 
The Knights built a 2-0 lead on Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi’s third win of the tournament, a 6-0, 6-4 decision at No. 5. But the Bulls answered with Pierre Luquet’s straight-set win at No. 3 to make it 2-1.
 
Luquet’s victory started a string of three consecutive points for the Bulls, who tied it on Barroso-Campos’ 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 1 and moved to within one point of the title on Jakub Wojcik’s 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory at No. 4.
 
That turned the focus to the final two courts, where both went to a deciding third set. Ferguson was locked in a three-set battle with UCF’s Alan Rubio, while the Bulls’ Ivan Yatsuk faced the Knights’ Mikhail Sokolovskiy.
 
Sokolovskiy tied it at 3-3 with his 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win at No. 6, but Ferguson followed almost immediately thereafter with his 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 victory at No. 2 to end it.
 
USF earns the American Athletic Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
 
 
 
 
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
presented by AIR FORCE RESERVE
April 18-21 | Orlando, Florida
 

First Round | Thursday, April 18
Match 1: No. 7 Temple 4, No. 10 UConn 0
Match 2: No. 9 SMU 4, No. 8 ECU 0
Quarterfinals | Friday, April 19
Match 3: No. 7 Temple 4, No. 2 Tulane 3
Match 4: No. 3 USF 4, No. 6 Memphis 0
Match 5: No. 5 Wichita State 4, No. 4 Tulsa 2
Match 6: No. 1 UCF 4, No. 9 SMU 0
Semifinals | Saturday, April 20
Match 7: No. 3 USF 4, No. 7 Temple 1
Match 8: No. 1 UCF 4, No. 5 Wichita State 0
Final | Sunday, April 21 | American Digital Network
Match 9: No. 3 USF 4, No. 1 UCF 3

 
 
Most Outstanding Player
Alberto Barroso-Campos, USF