Tampa, Fla.--The No. 46-ranked Georgia State women's tennis team dropped a narrow 4-3 match at South Florida on Sunday morning.

The Panthers mounted a comeback after dropping the doubles point to tie the match at 3-3. Senior Whitney Byrd rallied from dropping her first set to force a third set to decide the match. Byrd dropped her match 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 to USF's Danielle Mills at the No.3 position to decide the outcome.

Georgia State fell to 6-7 and moves on to face No. 14-ranked Clemson on Tuesday. The Panthers and Tigers will play their match in Orlando, Fla., at 2 p.m.

Junior Abigail Tere-Apisah extended her singles winning streak to eight matches with a straight-set victory at the No. 1 position. Tere-Apisah won a 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 match against USF's Loreto Alonso-Martinez to improve to 11-2 this season. She is ranked No. 26 in the latest ITA National Singles rankings.

Sophomore Chaimaa Roudami put the Panthers on the scoreboard with a 6-4, 6-2 win in the No. 5 position against USF's Paula Montoya. Roudami has now won four-consecutive singles matches. Tere-Apisah's win followed Roudami's before senior Maryna Kozachenko earned a 7-6, 6-3 win in the No. 6 slot. Kozachenko defeated Alessandra Bonte.

The match was a second-straight close contest between Georgia State and South Florida. Last year the Panthers won a thrilling 4-3 match in Tampa thanks to comeback singles victories from Byrd and Tere-Apisah. With GSU trailing in the team score 3-2, Tere-Apisah fell behind 5-0 in her deciding third set and faced three match points. She fought off all three of those match points, then three more when the set score was 5-2, and won seven straight games to take the third set and win the match. With the team score tied, Byrd fell behind a break early in her third set but won 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to clinch the GSU win.

Georgia State and Clemson will meet for the fourth time in series history on Tuesday. The Panthers are looking for their first win in the all-time series with the last matchup being in 2002. Clemson boasts three nationally-ranked singles players in its singles lineup in sophomore Yana Koroleva (#19), freshman Liz Jeukeng (#34) and sophomore Beatrice Gumulya (#45).

Visit the women's tennis page on GeorgiaStateSports.com for a full recap of Tuesday's match.

South Florida 4, #75 Georgia  State 3

Doubles
Tere-Apisah/Grgan (GS) def. Rizzolo/Mills, 8-6
Vasenina/Alonso-Martinez (USF) def. Kozachenko/Ffriend (GS), 8-4
Montoya/Fracassi (USF) def. Timmermann/Roudami (GS), 8-6

Singles
Abigail Tere-Apisah (GS) def. Loreto Alonso-Martinez (USF), 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
Katie Vasenina (USF) def. Masa Grgan (GS), 6-1, 6-2
Danielle Mills (USF) def. Whitney Byrd (GS), 6-1, 5-7, 6-3
Fanny Fracassi (USF) def. Linn Timmermann (GS), 6-3, 6-2
Chaimaa Roudami (GS) def. Paula Montoya (USF), 6-4, 6-2
Maryna Kozachenko (GS) def. Alessandra Bonte (USF), 7-6, 6-3

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