ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women's tennis team will host 15 matches at the United States Tennis Association National Campus this spring in its second season under head coach Bryan Koniecko.
The Knights will face nine teams that reached the 2017 NCAA Tournament, including national seeds Michigan (10), South Carolina (14) and Baylor (16).
In Koniecko's first campaign in Orlando, the Black and Gold went 13-9, reaching the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Championships.
The Black and Gold return a trio of players from the 2017 starting lineup. Seniors Monica Matias and Emilia Granstrom are back after posting a combined 27-10 record in singles action last year. Junior Natalia Serrano went 10-4 at the No. 2 singles spot as a sophomore.
UCF added a quartet of new players for the 2018 season. Rookies Maria Martinez and Ksenia Kuznetsova excelled during the fall in ITF professional tournaments. Silvia Bordes and Rebeka Stolmar also shined in individual events. Martinez and Bordes made it all the way to the semifinals of the ITA Southeast Regional.
The fall was highlighted by a pair of doubles titles. Serrano and Matias cruised through the Bedford Cup to win the first hardware of the season. The veteran duo had to outduel the young partnership of Kuznetsova and Martinez in the finals of the Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Courts Classic.
All home matches for the Knights at the USTA National Campus are free to the public and will be streamed through the USTA website.
COLLEGE MATCHDAY
The Knights will take part in the USTA College MatchDay series. The Black and Gold will go up against Michigan on March 3 at 12:30 p.m. One of the primary platforms to promote collegiate tennis, College MatchDay features kids' activities, live music, specialty food and drinks, games and giveaways on-site. Fans will be able to reserve free tickets on Ticketmaster, beginning Jan. 12.
THE AMERICAN
The Knights will play six matches in The American. UCF will face ECU (March 4) and Memphis (March 10) at home, with matches on the road against SMU (Feb. 9), USF (April 4), Tulsa (April 13) and Wichita State (April 15).
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