ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women’s tennis team climbed one spot in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings to No. 23 per Thursday’s release.
The latest release includes updated team, singles and doubles rankings. UCF did not see match action since their conference championship victory on April 21. Other teams have been active since the last release of the rankings on April 23. This means whatever happened to the Knights in this cycle of the rankings depended on what other teams and players accomplished.
Valeriya Zeleva and Ksenia Kuznetsova both remain ranked in the both the singles and doubles rankings. The two together in doubles check in at No. 26, two spots lower than last week. The pair has gone 12-4 on the season and won their last match decisively, beating USF’s top duo 6-1. Their tremendous season has qualified them for the NCAA Doubles Championships which take place at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus from May 20-25.
Zeleva climbs three spots to No. 40 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings. This is Zeleva’s highest ranking since she was at No. 27 back on March 12. Zeleva is coming off an incredible performance in the American Athletic Conference championship tournament that earned her the Most Outstanding Player Award. She went 2-0 in the tournament, defeating two ranked opponents. Zeleva is 17-5 this season and has a 9-5 mark against ranked opposition. Her remarkable season has qualified her for the NCAA Singles Championships which will take place at the same time and place as the doubles tournament.
Kuznetsova sits at No. 82 in the singles rankings and has had herself a phenomenal season at the No. 2 singles spot. She cracked into the singles rankings back on March 5 at No. 70 and has floated between there and No. 89 since then. She has gone 13-4 at the No. 2 position in singles and has an overall record of 14-5 during the spring. When you include her fall stats, she has a record of 24-8 during the 2018-2019 campaign. Her 24 victories ties her for fourth place on UCF’s single season wins list. An additional win in the NCAA tournament would put her in a tie for third place.
UP NEXT
The Knights will face the No. 37 Alabama Crimson Tide in the first round of the NCAA tournament this Friday at 2 p.m. in Tallahassee. The winner will advance to play the winner of the FSU/South Alabama match on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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