ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women’s tennis team checks in at No. 24 in this week’s Oracle/ITA rankings, three spots lower than last week.
The Knights have only had one match since the last release of the team rankings that came out on March 26. UCF topped the FIU Panthers in Miami by a score of 5-2 to win their sixteenth straight match.
As for singles play, Valeriya Zeleva and Ksenia Kuznetsova didn’t move much in the rankings after playing three matches since the last release of the Oracle/ITA singles rankings.
Zeleva now sits at No. 44 in the singles rankings, three spots lower than where she was two weeks ago. She has gone 2-1 since then, defeating No. 98 Okalova in straight sets as well as picking up a nice 6-2, 6-2 win over FIU’s No. 1 Maryna Veksler on Sunday. Her loss came to No. 34 Illinois’ Asuka Kawai who was ranked No. 54 at the time.
Kuznetsova has gone 1-1 since the last singles rankings were released, picking up a 6-0, 6-0 win in the process against #34 Illinois’ No. 2 player Jaclyn Swikes. After those two matches, Kuznetsova now sits at No. 86 in the singles rankings.
The dynamic doubles duo of Kuznetsova and Zeleva climb 11 spots to No. 20 in the nation, just four spots short of their best ranking this season. They have gone 1-0 since the last release of the doubles rankings on March 19, winning their match against the No. 1 doubles duo of No. 34 Illinois decisively 6-1.
Kuznetsova and Zeleva have played well in their two other matches since March 19, but both went unfinished. They were leading the No. 15 duo in the nation 4-3 as they were looking to defeat Martina Okalova and Vera Ploner for the second time this season. Kuznetsova and Zeleva defeated them when they were ranked fourth in the nation during ITA Kickoff Weekend. Their most recent match to go unfinished came against the No. 64 pair in the nation consisting of Kamila Umarova and Basak Akbas of FIU. The Knight’s top pair was about to win their match when the doubles point was clinched, but the score will stand at 5-4.
UP NEXT
UCF will face one of their toughest tests this season as they travel to face No. 12 Oklahoma State on Friday, April 5 at 5 p.m.
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