Jan. 27, 2007
Gainesville, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Facing one of the top programs in the country in the dual-match opener Saturday, the UCF women's tennis team dropped a 7-0 decision at No. 2 Florida. Sophomore Kenza Belbacha (Casablanca, Morocco) played extremely well at No. 2 singles, pushing her opponent to the limit only to fall in three sets.
"We ran into an awesome Florida team that is very well trained by Roland Thornqvist," said UCF head coach Patricia Allison. "They were terrific in doubles and all we can say is hats off to them. But Kenza stepped up today against the Gators. She showed exactly why she is our No. 2 player and she has tremendous promise. We did play really, really well in singles. Even though the scores seemed favorable to Florida, most of the points were 8-10 shots. I'm happy with the way we played, but we just ran into a very good team."
Florida (2-0) posted three perfect performances in doubles, not allowing UCF (0-1) to get on the board en route to capturing the day's first point.
Singles opened up with a close contest at the No. 2 position. Serving for the first set, Florida's Megan Alexander, ranked No. 95 in the country, was broken by Belbacha to get it back on serve. Eventually the set reached a tiebreak where Belbacha pulled off the 7-5 win. Alexander then got an early break in the second to even the match with a 6-2 triumph. With her team rallying around her, Belbacha inched out to a 7-3 lead in the third-set super tiebreaker. That did not last long, though, as Alexander won the next seven points to preserve the Florida shutout.
At Nos. 3-6 singles, the Gators gave up one game in each match for their respective victories. At No. 1, sophomore Elvira Serrot (Madrid, Spain) had the task of going up against the 11th-ranked player in Division I, Diana Srebrovic. Serrot put up a tough fight in the second set, but could not pull off the upset in a 6-0, 6-3 loss.
UCF remains on the road for its next match, traveling to Jacksonville, Fla., for a 2 p.m. showdown at North Florida Feb. 2. For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF athletics.