Jan. 23, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - With four tournaments already in the books for the 2007-08 season, the UCF women's tennis team gets the dual-match campaign underway with a trip to No. 4 Florida Thursday at 5 p.m. It also will be Stephanie Nickitas' first trip to her alma mater as a head coach as this season marks her debut with the Knights.
Nickitas competed for the Gators from 1996-99, where she claimed the 1996 and 1997 NCAA doubles titles and ranks first in single-season doubles winning percentage (41-1, 97.6 percent). She was a first-team All-SEC honoree all four years and won 128 singles matches as well.
With Nickitas as their leader, the Knights had a very prosperous trip to Ft. Myers Jan. 19-21 for the Florida Gulf Coast MLK/Johan Kriek Classic. As a team, UCF was a combined 25-10 in singles and doubles, paced by senior Kyla McNicol's 7-0 performance. Meanwhile, junior Elvira Serrot posted an important upset victory during the event, defeating No. 77 Stephanie Delmacio of Wichita State, 6-1, 6-2.
For the season, UCF holds a 42-29 record in singles and a 22-11 mark in doubles play.
Thursday's contest is slated to be the second of the year for Florida, which takes on Stetson Wednesday. UF has a trip of sophomores who have received some national attention, as Megan Alexander holds a No. 37 ranking, Anastasia Revzina is No. 50 and Csilla Borsanyi sits at No. 59. Senior Diana Srevrovic claims a ranking as well, rating in at No. 92. Florida is coming off a year in which it advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before falling to UCLA.
The Black and Gold has opened four of its last five seasons in Gainesville, but is 0-5 all-time vs. UF.
UCF's first home match will be Feb. 3, a 9:30 a.m. meeting with Florida Gulf Coast.
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