ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF men's tennis team pushed the defending National Champion Virginia Cavaliers to the limit Sunday at the USTA National Campus, but came up just short in a 4-3 loss.
"We competed hard," said UCF Director of Tennis John Roddick. "We played some good tennis in practice, but that has to start translating a little better to the matches. It's a learning process, we just don't want that learning process to be too long."
The Knights (4-6, 0-0) came out of the gate on fire to open doubles play. Gabriel DeCamps and Danny Kerznerman cruised to a 6-2 win over Ammar Alhaqbani and Spencer Bozsik at No. 3 in the first match.
The ORACLE/ITA Division I No. 11 ranked doubles pair of Korey Lovett and Eero Vasa clinched the opening match point for UCF with a 6-3 win at No. 1 over Aswin Lizen and Gianni Ross.
Virginia (7-5, 0-1) opened singles action with a win at No. 1. No. 74 singles player, Carl Soderlund took down Lovett 6-3, 6-3 to even the score.
Ross would give the Cavaliers the lead at No. 3, when he got past DeCamps, 6-0, 6-4 to give Virginia a 2-1 lead.
No. 124 Alan Rubio quickly knotted the score up once again at No. 4. The freshman defeated Alhaqbani, 6-4, 6-4.
After No. 28 ranked singles player, Lizen put Virginia back ahead with a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 2 over Mikhail Sokolovskiy, the Black and Gold found themselves in a couple of three-set battles to decide the match.
Eero Vasa fought to the finish at No. 5, but Matthew Lord would prevail with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win to clinch the match for the Cavs.
Vasyl Kiselyov was victorious in his first action of the year. The Ukrainian native defeated Kyrylo Tsygura, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in the final match.
UP NEXT
The Knights welcome a pair of Big 10 opponents to the USTA National Campus this week. The first will feature Minnesota at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 14 and then Indiana at 6 p.m March 16.
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Virginia 4, UCF 3
Singles competition
1. #74 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. Korey Lovett (UCF-M) 6-3, 6-3
2. #28 Aswin Lizen (VA) def. Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF-M) 6-4, 7-5
3. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Gabriel DeCamps (UCF-M) 6-0, 6-4
4. #124 Alan Rubio (UCF-M) def. Ammar Alhaqbani (VA) 6-4, 6-4
5. Matthew Lord (VA) def. Eero Vasa (UCF-M) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
6. Vasyl Kiselyov (UCF-M) def. Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #11 Korey Lovett/Eero Vasa (UCF-M) def. Aswin Lizen/Gianni Ross (VA) 6-3
2. Carl Soderlund/Matthew Lord (VA) vs. Alan Rubio/Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF-M) no result
3. Gabriel DeCamps/Danny Kerznerman (UCF-M) def. Ammar Alhaqbani/Spencer Bozsik (VA) 6-2