ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's tennis team moved up to No. 31 in the Oracle/ITA rankings on Tuesday morning. Later that day, No. 70 Korey Lovett was named the American Athletic Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week by the league office.
UCF (12-5) is coming off a 4-2 War On I-4 victory against No. 26 USF. After dropping the doubles point, the Knights fought back to win four singles matches to upset the Bulls.
"Our team had a great win against USF last week and it is reflected with our jump in the rankings," head coach John Roddick said. "We still have work to do to ensure an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament."
Lovett (11-6) is coming off a three-set victory against No. 62 Sasha Gozun. The junior took the first set, 6-4 but fell in the second, 7-5. Each of the players recorded 11 aces spanning over the three sets.
In the third set, Lovett and Gozun were all tied up at 4-4 and again at 5-5. Using the crowd, Lovett took a 6-5 lead. Four huge serves sealed the deal for UCF with a 7-5 victory.
The Brevard, N.C., native, is the third Knight to receive a weekly honor this season. On February 21, senior Chris Barrus garnered the distinction, while junior Danny Kerznerman earned the award on March 28.
The Black and Gold head to Johnson City, Tenn., to take on ETSU and UNCW on April 7 and April 8, respectively.