ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - After playing away from Orlando for the early part of the season, the UCF men's tennis team returned to the USTA National Campus and opened its home slate with a commanding 6-1 win over North Florida Wednesday night.
"It's always nice to play at home," Director of Tennis John Roddick said. "That's what we need to do. Teams that I feel like we have a little more of an advantage, we need to go out and play that way and not let teams hang around. If you get the lead, you need to put the pedal down."
The Knights (3-2) opened up the scoring by taking the all-important doubles point against the Ospreys (3-4). Alan Rubio and Danny Kerznerman took down Till Von Winning and Joe Ellis 6-1 at No.3 to put UCF ahead.
After UNF evened the score in at No. 2, the doubles point came down to a tiebreak between UCF's No. 22 ranked Korey Lovett and Eoro Vasa against Jefta Kecic and Nilo Duarte. The UCF pairing rallied from 5-4 down to take the match 7-6(4).
UCF carried that momentum into singles play, with No. 77 ranked Alan Rubio easily defeating Lasse Muscheites 6-1, 6-1 at No.3 for the first of five singles victories for the Knights.
Freshman Mikhail Sokolovskiy only needed two sets for his match, as he took down Duarte 6-3, 6-2 at No.5 to put the Knights on the brink of victory.
At the top of the lineup for UCF, Lovett clinched the match for the Black and Gold, as he overpowered Kecic 6-2, 6-4.
With the result already decided, UCF kept up the strong play with two more singles victories. Gabriel Decamps muscled through Sahil Deshmukh 7-5, 6-3 at No.2, and Kerznerman took down Joe Ellis 6-4, 6-3 to round the wins.
Von Winning won a three-set match over Vasa 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 for the lone Osprey point of the night.
The Knights will now have an extended break to improve. UCF will have a layoff until March 3, when it takes on Michigan at the USTA National Campus for College Matchday.
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UCF 6, North Florida 1
Singles Competition
1. Korey Lovett (UCF-M) def. Jefta Kecic (UNF) 6-2, 6-4?
2. Gabriel DeCamps (UCF-M) def. Sahil Deshmukh (UNF) 7-5, 6-3
3. #77 Alan Rubio (UCF-M) def. Lasse Muscheites (UNF) 6-1, 6-1
4. Till Von Winning (UNF) def. Eero Vasa (UCF-M) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4?
5. Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF-M) def. Nilo Duarte (UNF) 6-3, 6-2
?6. Danny Kerznerman (UCF-M) def. Joe Ellis (UNF) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles Competition
1. #22 Korey Lovett/Eero Vasa (UCF-M) def. Jefta Kecic/Nilo Duarte (UNF) 7-6 (7-4)?
2. Sahil Deshmukh/Lasse Muscheites (UNF) def. Gabriel DeCamps/Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF-M) 6-4
3. Alan Rubio/Danny Kerznerman (UCF-M) def. Till Von Winning/Joe Ellis (UNF) 6-1
