TULSA, Okla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women's tennis team has double vision in the ITA All-American Championships as they have two doubles pairs in the quarterfinals. No. 7 Valeriya Zeleva and Ksenia Kuznetsova as well as No. 31 Rebeka Stolmar and Marie Mattel have impressed so far through the first two days of the doubles main draw.
DAY ONE
In singles, No. 29 Zeleva fell to Michigan's No. 26 Chiara Lommer in her first match of the main singles draw by a score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. No. 98 Stolmar was topped 6-3, 6-2 by the No. 6 seeded Anna Rogers of North Carolina State, who is ranked eighth in the country. Both Zeleva and Stolmar would take part in the main draw's consolation bracket on Thursday.
DAY TWO
The Knights were perfect on day two as both doubles tandems for UCF successfully advanced to Elite Eight with two big victories each on Thursday. Both Zeleva and Stomar won their singles matches in the consolation bracket as well.
As the No. 5 seed in the main draw, Kuznetsova and Zeleva edged Mississippi State's No. 14 Magda Adaloglou and Tamar Racine 8-7 (6) to advance to the quarterfinals. The Knights kept their momentum rolling as they cruised to an 8-3 victory over Ole Miss' No. 17 Alexa Bortles and Sabina Machalova. UCF's top duo is back in action in the seminfinals against Colorado's No.53 Monica Malinen and Sara Nayar on Friday at 7:15 p.m. ET.
After winning their way through the qualifying draw earlier in the week, Stolmar and Mattel teamed up to topple LSU's No. 39 Safiya Carrington and Eden Richardson in a close 8-6 match. With the win, Stolmar and Mattel advanced to the Sweet 16 of the main draw. The UCF pair faced Penn's No. 59 Iuliia Bryzgalova and Marija Cunic and bested them by a count of 8-5. Stolmar and Mattel will compete in the Elite Eight against Vanderbilt's Georgia Drummy and Christina Rosca on Friday at 7:15 p.m. ET. The Vanderbilt pair upset the top seed of the tournament in the round of 16.
Zeleva had fought through a tight match against Mississippi State's No. 43 Emma Antonaki and wound up edging her 6-4, 7-5. Stolmar found success in a neck in neck battle as well, defeating VCU's No. 31 Paola Delgado 6-4, 6-4. Stolmar will face Wake Forest's No. 88 Carolyn Campana while Zeleva's opponent has not been named yet. Both Knights will be in action at 1 p.m. ET on Friday for their next singles match in the consolation bracket.
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