ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 28 UCF men's tennis team heads to its first NCAA Team Championships in over 10 years. The Knights will take on No. 42 Louisville in the first round.
The Knights and Cardinals will open NCAA Tournament play at the Ohio State University Varsity Tennis Center on May 12 at 11 a.m.
"I think the guys are itching to go," said head coach John Roddick. "This week's been a little bit better in practice than we were last week so that's good."
This is the first meeting between the teams in over two decades, even though both programs competed in the American Athletic Conference during the 2013-14 season. The Black and Gold lead the all-time series 3-0, defeating the Cards 6-1 in March of 1997.
UCF has had a tremendous season. The Knights' 16 wins under first year head coach John Roddick are the most since the 2003 campaign, when they went 20-4.
UCF Men's Tennis has defeated five Top-30 programs this season; No. 23 Texas Tech, No. 29 South Alabama, No. 29 Florida State, No. 25 USF and No. 27 Tulane.
The Black and Gold earned the program's highest seed in The American Championships at No. 3. The Knights secured wins over Tulsa and No. 27 Tulane to advance to their first ever finals appearance. UCF fell to rival No. 24 USF, 4-1, in the championship match.
Last week, junior Korey Lovett earned a spot in the NCAA Singles Tournament. He is the first-ever UCF player to earn a post-season individual bid. The Brevard, N.C., native also was named All-AAC by the league office last week. Lovett is No. 42 in the recent Oracle/ITA Singles Rankings.
The Knights have five players with 10 or more wins. Danny Kerznerman leads the team with a 16-2 mark.
UCF has three doubles pairs ranked in the recent release; Richmond and Mariano Porter are No. 64, Kerznerman and Lovett sit at No. 72, and Richmond and Lovett are No. 87.
Louisville (21-9) also received an at-large bid to the tournament. The Cardinals fells to No. 3 Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC Championships.
Louisville's Sean Donohue and Parker Wynn received a post-season bid to the NCAA Doubles Tournament. They are the seventh pair in Cardinals program history to do so.
This season, both programs have played Tennessee Tech and Florida State. UCF and Louisville defeated Tennessee Tech. Two days before, the Knights posted a 4-1 victory against Florida State, the Cards dropped a 4-0 decision to FSU.
"I'm telling the guys to stick to their routines do what you've been doing all season," redshirt senior Harrison Richmond said. "We've had a lot of success and done well. I think we are playing our best tennis right now. So stick with what we know, don't changing anything."
The winner will of UCF and Louisville will take on either the No. 3 overall seed Ohio State or Butler in the second round on May 13. The victor of the Ohio State Regional advances to play in the final four rounds of the national championship May 18-23 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.
