TULSA, Okla. (UCFKnights.com) – Of the final four doubles tandems left in the ITA All-American Championships, two of them are dressed in Black and Gold. The UCF women's tennis team will have two doubles tandems in the main draw semifinals as No. 7 Ksenia Kuznetsova and Valeriya Zeleva as well as No. 31 Rebeka Stolmar and Marie Mattel took care of business on Friday.
As the No. 5 seed of the tournament, Kuznetsova and Zeleva topped Colorado's No. 53 Sara Nayar and Monica Malinen by a score of 8-5. UCF's top tandem will advance to the semifinals to face Tennessee's No. 24 Tenika McGriffin and Kaitlin Staines with a trip to the championship match on the line.
On the other side of the bracket, Stolmar and Mattel continue their impressive run as they picked up another victory. They defeated Vanderbilt's Georgia Drummy and Christina Rosca by a score of 8-4 to punch their ticket to the semifinals where they will face Yale's No. 29 Jessie Gong and Samantha Martinelli. The Yale duo defeated Kuznetsova and Zeleva in the 2019 dual match season.
Both Knight pairs play at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. Should both UCF duos advance, they will face each other for the ITA All-American Championships crown.
The Knights continued their winning ways in singles play as both No. 29 Zeleva and No. 98 Stolmar won their matches today, advancing them to the semifinals of the main draw consolation round.
Zeleva was matched up against South Carolina's No. 49 Mia Horvit in the quarterfinals. Zeleva needed only two sets to top Horvit, defeating her in a competitive match by a count of 6-4, 6-3. She'll square off with Furman's No. 46 Katarina Kozarov on Saturday at noon.
Stolmar faced Oklahoma State's Ayumi Miyamoto and battled through a gritty contest. Stolmar and Miyamoto traded the first and second sets with identical scores, but it was Stolmar who was able to prevail in a tight third set by a score of 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Stolmar will face Florida's No. 23 McCartney Kessler on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Should both Zeleva and Stolmar win their matches on Saturday, they will advance to face each other in the finals of the main draw consolation bracket.
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