ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 42 UCF men’s tennis team will round out a busy week against the No. 13 Illinois Fighting Illini on Friday at noon.
The Knights have won both their matches so far this week. Monday saw UCF defeat the South Alabama Jaguars by a score of 4-1. No. 26 Oklahoma State visited the Knights on Wednesday and were swept by the Black and Gold 4-0. UCF won the doubles point in both matches to set the tone early, something they have done well all season long.
Illinois comes into Friday’s match with a record of 7-6 on the season. They have faced some tough opposition lately, losing three of their last five matches. All three of those losses came to top-12 teams, their most recent being a 6-1 loss to No. 4 Florida. The Fighting Illini have two ranked singles players inside the top-35. Aleksandar Kovacevic sits at No. 14 while Alex Brown checks in at No. 31. Brown is also a part of the nation’s forty-fifth best doubles tandem as he is paired with Caleb Chakravarthi. The two will likely face UCF’s No. 54 Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel at the No. 1 doubles position on Friday.
The match against Illinois will be the eleventh time UCF has played a ranked opponent. To this point in the season, the Knights are 4-6 against top-50 teams this season. Of those eleven opponents, six of them have been ranked inside the top-20.
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