TULSA, Okla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women's tennis team concluded the qualifying draw of the ITA All-American Championships on Tuesday afternoon and will see No. 98 Rebeka Stolmar and No. 29 Valeriya Zeleva participate in the main draw. The Knights will have their top two doubles tandems in the main draw as well.
Stolmar punched her ticket to the main draw with a hard-fought victory over the No. 7 seed of the qualifying draw, North Carolina State's Jaeda Daniel. There was little wiggle room to be found in the contest, but Stolmar was able to prevail 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Stolmar advances to face the sixth seeded Anna Rogers of North Carolina State on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
At the start of the tournament, Zeleva was named to the main draw of the tournament. She'll see her first action in the ITA All-American Championships against Michigan's Chiara Lommer Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Ksenia Kuznetsova's was eliminated from the qualifying draw as she was topped by Mississippi State's Martina Capurro by a score of 6-1, 7-5. Kuznetsova is number three on the "lucky losers" list, meaning she'll get a chance to compete in the main draw if three players from the main draw are unable to compete for some reason.
Marie Mattel's tournament came to a close in the consolation bracket as she was edged in three sets by Tennessee's Kaitlin Staines by a count of 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. Mattel had made it through pre-qualifiers and had advanced through the first round of qualifiers before being upended.
As for doubles play, the nations No. 31 pair of Mattel and Stolmar advanced to the main draw with a win on Tuesday. As the No. 2 seed in the qualifying draw, the Knight duo advanced by blanking Oklahoma State's Dariya Detkovskaya and Bunyawi Thamchaiwat 8-0. The UCF pair will compete against LSU's Safiya Carrington and Eden Richardson on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
No. 7 Zeleva and Kuznetsova came into the tournament pegged to participate in the main double draw. They're tabbed as the draw's No. 5 seed and will take on Mississippi State's Alexa Bortles and Sabina Machalova on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
*All times listed are Eastern Standard Time
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF Women's Tennis on social media on Facebook (/UCF.WTennis), Twitter (UCF_WTennis) and Instagram (UCFWTennis).
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news. Click here to download the app now.
