ANN HARBOR, Mich. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men’s tennis team dropped their match against the No. 16 Michigan Wolverines on Sunday afternoon by a score of 6-1.
The doubles session of the match began with the Knights dropping court two as Alan Rubio and Mikhail Sokolovskiy were bested by Mattias Siimar and Andrew Fenty 6-2. This was the first time at the number two spot for the duo of Rubio and Sokolovskiy. The Black and Gold answered back on court one where Bogdan Pavel and Trey Hilderbrand topped Connor Johnston and Harrison Brown by a count of 6-3. UCF’s top doubles pair moves to 4-2 on the season with two straight victories.
Court three would decide the doubles point. Here, UCF had Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi and Gabriel Decamps, a tandem that had gone 0-3 to this point in the season. In a tight contest with Myles Schalet and Patrick Maloney, Decamps and Grassi Mazzuchi battled all the way to a tiebreak and eventually came out on top with a 7-6 (7-1) win to give UCF the early lead.
Michigan bounced right back after dropping the doubles point. Siimar defeated Decamps on court one 6-0, 6-2 to tie things up. The Wolverines kept the momentum going by taking court three where Fenty edged Hilderbrand 6-3, 6-4. Michigan stayed hot as court five wrapped up moments after court three. The Wolverines would go up 3-1 as Pavel was topped by Maloney 6-0, 6-4.
For a while, the Knights seemed to have stopped the momentum of Michigan. The remaining three singles courts were headed for their third sets, as UCF would need to win the last three to win the match.
After barely losing the first set 7-5, Grassi Mazzuchi rallied back to win set two 6-2. Despite his best efforts of a comeback, he fell to Johnston 6-2 in set three as Michigan clinched the match on court four.
The Wolverines would win another point as they took court two, where Rubio fell to Schalet in three sets 6-7, 6-4, 12-10. The third set was played as a 10-point tiebreaker since the match had already been clinched when the court began their third set.
Court six began their final frame just before the match was decided, so they played a full third set. Michigan's Gabe Tishman bested Sokolovskiy 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) to win all six singles courts.
UP NEXT
The next match for the Knights is scheduled for March 3 at home against the Miami Hurricanes as part of College Match Day. However, the team may be adding a few matches as to avoid having 20 days without a match.
COLLEGE MATCH DAY
With less than a month to go until College Match Day, don’t miss an opportunity to see the Knights battle the Miami Hurricanes. Click here to claim your free ticket.
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news.
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF Men's Tennis on social media on Facebook (/UCF.MTennis), Twitter (UCF_MTennis) and Instagram (UCF.MTennis).