ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women’s tennis team had a strong showing at a pair of tournaments over the weekend. The Knights split duties between the LSU Tiger Fall Classic in Baton Rouge, La., and the Seminole All-Conference Showdown in Tallahassee, Fla.
At LSU, the Knights competed in dual-format event with a mixed team with a pair of players from SMU. The Knights went 10-2 in singles play and 3-3 in doubles action. Ksenia Kuznetsova and Domenika Turkovic posted perfect records in singles.
On Friday, the Knights opened the weekend with a trio straight-set victories over Boston College. Kuznetsova cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Natasha Irani. Rebeka Stolmar outlasted Yufei Long, 7-5, 7-5. Turkovic needed a first-set tiebreak against Dasha Possokhova, but the freshman pulled out the win 7-6(4), 6-3. Natalia Serrano downed Nichole Petchey from SMU, 6-2, 6-3.
In the doubles portion on Friday, the Knights dropped a pair of contests to Northwestern. Stolmar and Serrano fell to Lee Or and Clarissa Hand, 6-1. Kuznetsova and Turkovic were bested 6-1 by Hannah McColgan and Julie Bryne.
The Black and Gold rebounded with three wins in doubles on Saturday. Stolmar and Kuznetsova edged Kennan Johnson and Anna Loughlan from LSU, 6-4. Serrano and Turkovic dropped their battle with the Tigers’ Taylor Bridges and Paris Corley, 6-3. In the afternoon competition, Kuznetsova and Serrano took down Boston College’s Long and Irani, 6-2, and the duo of Stolmar and Turkovic bested Possokhova and Marion Conklin.
The Knights split four singles matches on Saturday. Kuznetsova toppled Hand from Northwestern over three sets, 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3. Turkovic also went the distance in a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 contest against Caroline Pozo. The Wildcats managed a pair of victories against the Knights when Or outlasted Serrano 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, and Inci Ogut beat Stolmar 6-3, 6-3.
On Sunday, UCF swept its four singles matches against the host Tigers. Kuznetsova only needed two sets to beat Johnson, 6-3, 6-3. Stolmar made quick work of Loughlan in a 6-1, 6-0 victory. Turkovic was in control the entire time against Corley, 6-3, 6-0. Serrano bounced back from a first set defeat to Luba Vasilyuk to win 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
At the Seminole All-Conference Showdown, Valentina Martin led the way by wining the singles Flight G. The rookie won all three of her matches. Martin bested Marija Mastilovic from McNeese 7-6(3), 6-2. She pulled away for a straight set win over Zani Barnard from Middle Tennessee, 7-6(7), 6-4. Martin made it a perfect weekend with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Ebru Yazgan from Southern Miss.
Sara Culbertson took fourth place in the singles Flight A. The junior started with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Christina Jordan from West Virginia. Culbertson dropped her semifinals matchup with Emmanuelle Salas from Florida State 6-4, 6-3, before falling in the third-place match 6-3, 6-3, to Lexi Keberle from Wisconsin.
The newcomers faced steep competition in the doubles Flight A to finish the weekend in fourth.