ORLANDO, Fla (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women's tennis team wrapped up a busy day across the country, as Valeriya Zeleva was in action on the west coast playing in the Oracle ITA Masters while four other Knights were competing at home in the USTA Fall Collegiate Classic.
ORACLE ITA MASTERS – DAY 2
After winning her first-round match in convincing fashion, No. 29 Zeleva was set to face No. 17 Anna Turati of Texas in the round of 16. As the No. 8 seed in the tournament, Turati topped Zeleva by a score of 6-4, 6-2 to eliminate Zeleva from the main draw.
USTA Fall Collegiate Classic – Day 1
UCF began their morning in Orlando with two doubles tandems in action. No. 31 Rebeka Stolmar and Marie Mattel were in action against South Carolina's Mia Horvit and Megan Davies. The Knights wound up cruising to a 6-2 victory after taking the lead early and never looking back.
The other duo in action for the Black and Gold consisted of Nandini Sharma and Domenika Turkovic. The UCF pair would fall in their first match of the tournament season as Virginia's Amber O'Dell and Sofia Munera defeated the Knights 6-1.
Both UCF doubles tandems will be back in action on Sunday at 9 a.m. Stolmar and Mattel will be facing Miami's No. 33 Daevenia Achong and Estela Perez-Somarriba. The pair of Hurricanes won their first matchup by a score of 6-1. As for Sharma and Turkovic, they'll face North Carolina State's Jaeda Daniel and Adriana Reami who lost their first match by a score of 6-4.
Three Knights participated in singles play as Stolmar, Mattel and Sharma were prepared to play two matches each on the day.
Mattel was the only UCF player to pick up two wins on the afternoon, defeating seed No. 5-8 Alana Smith from North Carolina State 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 in her first matchup. Smith was ranked No. 40 in the country by the Oracle/ITA singles preseason rankings. It took another hard fought three-set match for Mattel to defeat her next opponent, the No. 9-16 seed in the tournament Daevenia Achong of Miami. Achong, the No. 80 singles player in the nation took the first set 6-3. Unphased, Mattel took the next two sets and won the match 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the Elite Eight of the tournament. She'll face Virginia's Sofia Munera at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
Sharma won her first match of the day as she was up against the No. 9-16 seed Victoria Emma of Florida, who is ranked No. 91 in the nation in singles play. Sharma imposed her will in the first set as she cruised to a 6-1 set victory before taking the second set 6-3. With the win, Sharma advanced to play the tournament's top seed and No. 2 singles player in the nation Perez-Somarriba of Miami. It was Perez-Somarriba who prevailed in this Sweet 16 matchup, topping Sharma 6-2, 6-1. Sharma will be back in action on Saturday at 9 a.m. against North Carolina State's Jaeda Daniel who is ranked No. 59 in the country.
No. 98 Stolmar fell in her first match of the day to the No. 9-16 seed Shiori Fukuada of Ohio State who holds a singles ranking of No. 79. Fukuada topped Stolmar by a score of 7-5, 6-1 which would later match Stolmar up with Oklahoma State's Catherine Gulihur. Stolmar was able to get the best of Gulihur in three sets, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Stolmar will be back in action against No. 84 Adriana Reami of North Carolina State on Saturday at 9 a.m.
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