ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 24 UCF women’s tennis team will travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to play the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on May 3 at 2 p.m.
The Knights have earned their second consecutive NCAA tournament bid. UCF entered the tournament last year as an at-large selection and won their first match ever in the NCAA tournament against FIU in the first round. This will be the sixth time the Knights have been in the NCAA tournament.
"It's great, we're excited to be in. That's the goal obviously, to be in the mix and to be with the best competition in the country," said head coach Bryan Koniecko, "We're excited to play Alabama again. I'm sure they're going to be a different team, it will be a completely different match."
UCF will be in a bracket with regional host FSU, No. 35 Alabama and South Alabama for the first and second rounds of the NCAA regionals. The Seminoles are the No. 11 national seed but sit at No. 10 in the Oracle/ITA rankings.
The Knights played Alabama earlier in the season when the Crimson Tide were unranked. UCF visited Alabama and left with a 6-1 victory back in February. The only point the Knights surrendered was the final court in a super tiebreaker of a third set after the match had already been decided.
The winner of the UCF/Alabama match will go on to face the winner of the FSU/South Alabama match in the second round. That match will take place on May 4 at 5 p.m.
If UCF does indeed advance, they could face FSU again for the second time this season. The Knights payed the Seminoles a visit in the third match of the season, dropping a 5-2 decision. FSU edged UCF in the doubles point in two close matches before taking four singles courts.
As for the NCAA singles and doubles tournament, participants will be announced tomorrow. The Knights will find out if anyone will be doing double time in the NCAA tournament on Tuesday evening. Follow UCFKnights.com and our social media pages for details on who will be included in the NCAA singles and doubles championships.
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