March 25, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team has won five of its last seven matches, with three of the victories coming at home. The Knights completed a clean sweep of Cornell last Friday, 7-0, before falling to No. 44 Denver, 5-2, on Saturday.
The Knights (8-7) are 4-2 at the UCF Tennis Complex this season. The squad wraps up its three-match homestand on Friday against Louisiana Lafayette at 2 p.m.
Admission to all UCF home matches is free.
Team Notebook
ELITE EIGHT
When freshman Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela) prevailed against No. 44 Denver's Andrew Landwerlen, 7-6(3), 6-2, it marked his eighth-consecutive singles victory at No. 5. During the stretch, he has defeated 51st-ranked Tennessee Tech's Juan Pablo Gomez, 6-2, 6-0, 57th-ranked UC Irvine's Stephen Stege 6-1, 6-4, and Cornell's Rory Heggie, 6-0, 6-2.
The freshman started the streak on Feb. 24 against East Carolina, taking a 6-1, 6-1 decision over the Pirates' Bryan Oakley.
FEROCIOUS FIVE
This season, the Knights are 13-2 at the No. 5 spot in singles play. UCF players have won 12-straight matches at No. 5, with the only two losses coming at the beginning of the season against No. 13 Florida (Feb. 1) and Stetson (Feb. 6).
Junior Danny Colon (Jacksonville, Fla./Englewood) began the streak with a win against Bethune Cookman's Jerome Ward, 6-4, 6-1. Junior Tarek Ben Soltane (Tunis, Tunisia) then won three-straight matches at No. 5, including a victory against No. 26 Miami.
Romano has won the next eight matches on court five.
TOUGH SLATE
The Knights have played a total of five-ranked teams in 2008, facing three of them in the month of March.
On March 9, UCF hosted No. 51 Tennessee Tech and sent the Golden Eagles home with a 5-2 loss. UCF also battled with No. 57 UC Irvine and No. 44 Denver this month.
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