The South Florida Bulls tennis program represents the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

in the sport of tennis. The program consists of separate men's and women's teams and competes in the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

within

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

. The Bulls men's tennis team is coached by

Ashley Fisher Ashley Fisher (born 25 September 1975) is a professional tennis player who comes from New South Wales in Australia. Fisher turned professional in 1998. Fisher has never played a major singles match on the ATP Tour, but has won four notable do ...

and the women's team is coached by Cristina Moros. Both teams play their home matches at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts on USF's campus in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

Men

The Bulls men's tennis team was founded in 1966 as one of the seven original varsity sports to be offered at USF, beginning as an

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

program. The team did not see much success in Division II, but made the

NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship The NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship is an annual men's college tennis national collegiate championship sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for teams in Division I. The tournament crowns a team, individual ...

in 1974, their first season in Division I. Upon joining the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

in the 1976–77 season, the Bulls won each of the first four conference championships. However, the Bulls did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament again until 1995. They have won 20 total conference championships, the second most of any USF team behind only men's soccer. They have also qualified for 17 NCAA Tournaments, with their best performance coming in 2015 when they made it to the Round of 16.

Women

USF's women's tennis team was also founded in 1966, making it the oldest women's team at the school. As the NCAA did not sponsor women's sports until 1982–83, the Lady Brahmans as they were known at the time first competed in the

United States Lawn Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

. They qualified for nationals in the USLTA four times and finished third in the nation in 1970 and 1971. Beginning in 1977 they joined the

Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

. They made the national tournament in the AIAW three times, with their highest finish being 11th place. In 1984 they won their first ever conference championship, though they had competed without a conference affiliation until the 1983 season. They also qualified for the

NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship The NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship is the National Collegiate Athletic Association's tennis tournament to determine the Team Championships, Singles Championships, and Doubles Championships for women's tennis athletes from Division I ...

for the first time in the 1984 season. As of 2020, the Bulls women's tennis team has won 13 conference titles, the second most of any women's team at the school. In addition they have qualified for 12 NCAA Tournaments, though they have only reached as far as the second round in the NCAA, and have done so three times.

References

{{University of South Florida South Florida Bulls

Men

Women

See also

References