Jan. 26, 2010
By Heather Lancaster
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The Knights collected a 5-2 victory over Florida Gulf Coast to open the dual-match season on Jan. 23. They will be back in action this Wednesday when they travel to Gainesville to meet No. 8 Florida at 5 p.m.
UCF lost only two singles matches while the doubles teams collected a win at all three spots against FGCU last weekend. Sophomore Taylor Dubins dropped only two games in her singles victory, moving her to 8-7 on the season.
The Gators are coming off their first win of the season against North Texas, 7-0. Allie Will is currently No. 13 in the nation in singles and Lauren Embree is also in the top 20 at No. 15. Together Will and Embree are No. 5 in doubles.
This will be the third year head coach Stephanie Nickitas will be facing her alma mater. Last year UF defeated UCF, 7-0. While with the Gators from 1996-99, Nickitas helped her squad claim the 1996 and 1998 NCAA titles while also serving as the NCAA doubles champion in both 1996 and 1997. Assistant coach Tony Giannoni also attended Florida.
UCF will be coming back home to host Michigan State (2-1) on Friday and Florida Atlantic (0-2) on Saturday. This will be the first match up between the Knights and the Spartans, while UCF leads the series with FAU, 21-11.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures, and become a follow of the Knights at Twitter.com. -UCF-