ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 22 UCF women’s tennis team returns to action on Saturday and Sunday in Evanston, Ill. for ITA Kickoff Weekend.
The Knights will play No. 20 Northwestern on Saturday at 11 a.m. to start their weekend. Depending on the outcome of this match, the Knights will either play No. 17 Miami (FL) or No. 23 Tulsa.
To this point in the season, the Knights have two undefeated players as Valeriya Zeleva and Marie Mattel have gone 3-0 in dual matches. Zeleva has played exclusively in the No. 1 spot and defeated the No. 39 Carla Touly against No. 15 FSU last Sunday. Mattel has not lost a set this season and has gone 2-0 in the third position and added a victory at the fourth spot.
Northwestern began their season with a sweep of UIC but fell to No. 16 Kansas in their next match 5-2. Julie Byrne and Carolina Pozo are both 2-0 so far for the Wildcats on courts two and six respectively.
Miami started their 2019 season with a perfect 3-0 record. The Hurricanes have defeated FAU, FGCU and Cornell. Daevenia Achong, Carla Girbau and Ana Madcur lead the way for Miami as all of them are 3-0 in dual match play this season. The Knights were eliminated from the second round of the NCAA tournament last season at the hands of Miami.
The Hurricanes will match up with the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa on Saturday. Tulsa is already out to a strong start this season with a 5-1 record. Their lone loss came at home against No. 9 Oklahoma State where they were defeated 6-1. As a team, Tulsa has not been defeated at the number one position. Martina Okalova has contributed three of the six victories in the first slot while Martha Matoula and Vera Ploner have added the other three combined.
The winner of the Miami/Tulsa match will play the winner of the Northwestern/UCF match on Sunday, while the loser of each match will do the same. The winners will face each other at 3 p.m. on Sunday with the consolation match taking place at 11 a.m.
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