ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 33 UCF men’s tennis team dropped a tight match with the No. 32 Texas Tech Red Raiders 4-2.
Doubles play was close throughout. The Knights and Red Raiders traded leads on all three courts. Court three was the first court to finish as Ilgiz Valiev and Matheus Leite defeated Alan Rubio and Mikhail Sokolovskiy 6-3. The doubles portion wrapped up on court two where Jackson Cobb and Tommy Mylnikov topped Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi 6-4. Court one went unfinished as Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel were trailing No. 6 Bjorn Thomson and Parker Wynn 4-5.
Singles play saw the Knights fight back after dropping the doubles point. The first match to finish was on court four, where Hilderbrand made quick work of Thomson by beating him 6-1, 6-3. Hilderbrand’s match finished before all first sets were final.
UCF added another point to the board as Grassi Mazzuchi picked up a win on court five. He beat Artem Kapshuk by a score of 6-4, 6-2 to give the Knights a 2-1 lead in the match.
Texas Tech began their climb back as court three saw Valiev edge Pavel 7-6, (7-5), 6-4. The Red Raiders would take the match-lead as No. 108 Wynn topped No. 122 Rubio 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.
Two matches remained in play for quite some time. The Knights needed both to win the match. Texas Tech kept that from happening as Franco Ribero edged Manoel Alencar 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) on court six.
Court one was the only court to go unfinished in singles play. No. 18 Decamps was leading Mylnikov in a third set. The score will remain at 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 4-2.
UP NEXT
The Knights will look to end their three-match skid as they play host to South Alabama on Monday at 2 p.m.
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