ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The Knights are headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005, as the No. 31 UCF men's tennis team has earned its first ever at-large bid to the tournament. The Knights will take on No. 43 Louisville in Columbus, Ohio on May 12 in the first round.
"I think our guys did a great job down the stretch and knew that an at-large bid was likely," said head coach John Roddick. "It was a matter of where we were going to go and we are excited to go to play a good team like Louisville."
The Knights' at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament is the first at-large nod for any UCF sport since the softball team garnered a spot in the NCAA's in May 2016.
This is the fourth appearance in the tournament for the Black and Gold. Between the years of 2003-2005, UCF won the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament to earn three consecutive automatic qualifications into the NCAA tournament.
The winner 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 Knights' 16 wins this season, 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.
"We worked our way up in the rankings," said Roddick. "After the first few weeks of the season we lost a match to Auburn, so we weren't in a great position but we weren't in a bad position. We talked about working our way through it and that's what the guys did."
The Black and Gold earned the third seed in the AAC Championships and posted wins over Tulsa and No. 27 Tulane to earn a spot in the finals for the first time. UCF fell to rival No. 24 USF, 4-1, in the championship match.
The winner of the Ohio State Regional will advance 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.
On Wednesday, No. 43 Korey Lovett will learn his post-season destiny as he hopes for a bid into the NCAA Men's Tennis Singles bracket.