ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF women's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 28 Tulsa on Saturday evening at the USTA National Campus.
"We expect to win every time we compete, so obviously we are disappointed to lose," head coach Bryan Koniecko said. "We have a lot of positives to take away from today. I liked the way we competed on all the courts and if we continue to do that we will be a tough one. We are looking forward to our next match on Tuesday."
In doubles, senior Cortney Cesarini and junior Monica Matias downed Ksenia Laskutova and Mahitha Dadireddy, 6-1, at No. 1. Unfortunately, the Knights dropped the other two matches and the doubles point.
In singles, the Knights compiled two victories. On the top court, Matias was up 5-3 in the first set, but Laskutova came back and tied it at 5-5. Both players held serve to force a tiebreaker. Tulsa's Laskutova took the tiebreaker 8-6. Matias came back in the second set and took a 5-1 lead. Laskutova won two games but Matias forced a third set tiebreaker. The UCF junior used her momentum to clinch her match with a 10-4 victory in the third.
Cesarini was in a toe-to-toe battle with Martina Okalova. Tied up 5-5 in the first set before Okalova won two consecutive games to win the first. Cesarini fought back and took the second set deftly, 6-1. In the third set tiebreaker,
Cesarini was trailing 8-4 in the tiebreaker, but went on a 7-2 run to clinch the third, 11-9.
The Knights return to the USTA National Campus on Tuesday at 10 a.m., to take on Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Results (Order of Finish)
Doubles (3,1,2)
1). Cortney Cesarini/ Monica Matias (UCF) d. Ksenia Laskutova/ Mahitha Dadireddy (TLS), 6-1
2).Martina Matoula/ Rongrong Leenabanchong (TLS) d. Emilia Granstrom/ Natalia Serrano (UCF), 6-3
3). Martina Okalova/ Vera Ploner (TLS) d. Nicole Jimenez/ Elizabeth Bagerbaseh (UCF), 6-0
Singles (6,2,5,4,3,1)
1). Monica Matias (UCF) d. Ksenia Laskutova (TLS), 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 10-4
2). Rongrong Leenabanchong (TLS) d. Natalia Serrano (UCF), 6-4, 6-1
3). Mahitha Dadireddy (TLS) d. Emilia Granstrom (UCF), 3-6, 6-4, 11-9
4). Cortney Cesarini (UCF) d. Martina Okalova (TLS), 5-7, 6-1, 11-9
5). Martha Matoula (TLS) d. Elizabeth Bagerbaseh (UCF), 6-3, 6-1
6). Marcelina Cichon (TLS) d. Nicole Jimenez (UCF), 6-0, 6-2