ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 28 UCF men’s tennis team will face the No. 46 USF Bulls in the American Athletic conference championship tomorrow at 1 p.m. This will be the second time the two teams have met in the last eight days.
The Knights will be seeking their first conference championship in the American Athletic Conference in it’s sixth year of existence. The last time the Knights won a conference championship was in 2005 when they were a part of the A-Sun. UCF has three conference championships to their name, all three coming in a row from 2003-2005.
On Sunday, there are a few story lines to follow. One of them being UCF’s top doubles tandem consisting of Bogdan Pavel and Trey Hilderbrand, who are ranked No. 16 in the nation. They have won eight straight matches, nine of their last ten and have defeated seven out of eight ranked opponents they’ve faced. Additionally, Mikhail Sokolovskiy has been on a tear of his own, winning eight out of his last ten matches and coming out victorious in his last five. He is 28-9 on the 2018-2019 season, good enough for a tie of third place on the single season wins list for UCF. He has picked up two singles victories in this tournament and looks to add one more in the championship match.
As a whole, the Knights will be looking to win their ninth straight doubles point and earn their sixth consecutive shutout. UCF has won 23 consecutive points, which we’re pretty sure is a record. The Knights swept five straight opponents earlier in the season, all of them by a score of 4-0. Of their fifteen wins, the Knights have earned sweeps in 11 of them.
USF has won four championships in the American, winning it the first four seasons of the conference’s existence. Tulane won it last year to snap USF’s streak. The Knights will look to become the third team to win the American Athletic Conference Championship.
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