ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 32 men’s tennis team earned the top seed in the American Athletic Conference championship tournament that will take place at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus from April 18-21.
The seeding was determined by the Oracle/ITA rankings. UCF was the highest ranked team in the American Athletic Conference, therefore earning the No. 1 seed.
UCF will be the No. 1 seed in the American Conference tournament for the first time in its existence. The No. 1 seeds in this tournament have had success winning the championship, taking the title home three of the previous five times. The USF Bulls had won the first four in the conference’s lifetime before the Tulane Green Wave took home last year’s trophy as a No. 2 seed.
The Knights finished the regular season with a record of 13-9, with nine of those wins via the sweep. The Black and Gold had ripped off five consecutive sweeps at one point before finishing the season with three blanks in a row.
As the one seed, UCF receives a bye and will face the eight or the nine seed on Friday. ECU is seeded at No. 8 while SMU stands at No. 9. The Knights did not face either team during the regular season.
In the American tournament, the Knights have only made it to the finals once in five years, where they fell to USF back in 2017. In the previous two seasons, the Knights had been the third seed in the tournament.
The Knights will be looking for their fourth conference championship in program history, their first since 2005. They won three consecutive conference championships in the A-Sun from 2003 to 2005.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
First Round | Thursday, April 18
Match 1: No. 9 SMU (11-16) vs. No. 8 ECU (14-6), 9 a.m.
Match 2: No. 10 UConn (7-14) vs. No. 7 Temple (13-6), 9 a.m.
Quarterfinals | Friday, April 19
Match 3: SMU/ECU winner vs. No. 1 UCF (13-9), 9 a.m.
Match 4: No. 5 Wichita State (15-9) vs. No. 4 Tulsa (14-11), 9 a.m.
Match 5: No. 6 Memphis (11-13) vs. No. 3 USF (14-7), Noon
Match 6: UConn/Temple winner vs. No. 2 Tulane (14-11), Noon
Semifinals | Saturday, April 20
Match 7: Match 3 winner vs. Match 4 winner, Noon
Match 8: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner, Noon
Final | Sunday, April 21
Match 9: Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner, Noon
UP NEXT
The Knights will play Friday at 9 a.m. as they have earned the No. 1 seed in the American Athletic Conference championship tournament. They’ll await the winner of ECU and SMU, who play on Thursday.
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