ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 28 UCF women’s tennis team is set to take on their second consecutive conference opponent as the Wichita State Shockers pay a visit to the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus on Sunday at noon.
UCF looks to extend their twelve-match winning streak which stands alone as the third longest in program history. Four Knights have individual winning streaks of eight matches or more. Nandini Sharma has been on fire as she has won 11 straight matches, seeing time at the fourth, fifth and sixth lineup spots. She has also performed well in doubles with her new partner Marie Mattel. The two together are 4-0 to this point. Natalia Serrano has won nine matches in a row with one of those wins coming as high as the No. 3 position. Ksenia Kuznetsova and Rebeka Stolmar each have eight straight singles victories. Kuznetsova is one singles win away from breaking into the top-10 in single-season win totals. She picked up 10 victories in the fall with 11 so far in the spring.
The Shockers bring an 8-7 record to town with a 2-2 record in the American Athletic Conference. Wichita State dropped their match with USF on Friday by a score of 4-1. Prior to that, the Shockers had played three consecutive ranked teams, beating No. 39 Gonzaga but falling to No. 8 Oklahoma State and No. 37 Kansas State. Wichita State doesn’t have a singles player ranked inside the top-125, but their duo consisting of Fatima Bizhukova and Marta Bellucco are ranked No. 46 in the Oracle/ITA doubles rankings.
Sunday will be just the third time Wichita State and UCF will face each other. The Black and Gold went on the road last season and defeated the Shockers 4-1 in mid-April as the regular season finale. This will be the first time Wichita State visits the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus; their last time visiting the Knights in central Florida came back in 1989.
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