ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 13 UCF women's tennis team is set to embark on their 2020 campaign as they open their season Jan. 18 as they host Cornell at 2 p.m. The Knights begin the season as the thirteenth best team in the nation, a program high ranking in the Oracle/ITA poll. With all but one starter returning from last season and two talented additions, the Black and Gold are poised for an even better season than last.
"I think we have a great group of motivated players who want to keep pushing UCF to new levels"
— UCF Women's Tennis (@UCF_WTennis) January 17, 2020
No limits in 2020; ready for our hard work to pay off ??#ChargeOn ?? #SomethingSpecial pic.twitter.com/qhlwwDP8Av
SEASON OUTLOOK
UCF will play 13 home matches at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus and five total matches against top 25 programs. The 2020 schedule consists of seven teams that reached the NCAA Tournament in the spring of 2019, including four national seeds and three that made the Sweet 16. Of the 23 total matches on this season's slate, 14 were ranked inside the top-75 by the ITA at season's end. UCF went 8-4 against ranked teams in 2019 and didn't lose a match on home court all year.
Lots of Power 6 opponents are scattered about on UCF's schedule. The Knights will potentially play up to five Big 12 teams, two Big 10 teams, two SEC teams, one ACC team and one Pac 12 team. The Black and Gold will take on six AAC opponents as their conference slate.
The Black and Gold are all over the singles and doubles rankings to begin the spring. In doubles, Rebeka Stolmar and Marie Mattel sit as the highest ranked duo in program history as they check in at No. 3. Together, Stolmar and Mattel went 13-2 this fall, defeating six currently ranked duos. Their lone losses during the tournament season came to the No. 1 and No. 4 duos. Ksenia Kuznetsova and Valeriya Zeleva sit at No. 11 in the doubles rankings. They only played six matches in the fall, posting a 3-3 record, defeating two ranked opponents with all three losses coming to top 20 teams.
In singles play, Stolmar checks in at No. 34 after a solid fall season, the highest ranking of her career. Zeleva, only a few spots behind Stolmar, is pegged as the No. 40 singles player in the country. Since coming to UCF, Zeleva has not dropped outside the top 50 in the singles rankings. Mattel jumps back into the singles rankings at No. 54 after not being ranked to begin the fall season. This is the first time Mattel has been ranked since Feb. 20 when she was ranked No. 119 after a perfect 8-0 start in her singles career.
Two newcomers to the squad will bring additional depth to an already talented Knights team. Evgeniya Levashova transfers to UCF from Pepperdine where she had a phenomenal first two collegiate seasons. Levashova complied a 42-8 record in singles and a 26-14 mark in doubles, propelling her high into the Oracle/ITA rankings. She climbed as high as No. 11 in the singles rankings and was part of the No. 1 doubles tandem in the nation to begin the 2019 spring season. Freshman Nadja Bay Christians joins the Knights from Castelldefels, Spain where she was ranked as high as No. 29 in the nation in juniors.
OPENING KNIGHT
The Knights will begin their season hosting Cornell at 2 p.m. on Jan. 18. The match will be played at the Adidas Performance Center, the indoor courts at the USTA National Campus.
Cornell vs. #13 UCF January 18, 2020, 2:00 P.M. |
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