ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 12 UCF women's tennis team fell shy of punching their ticket to the ITA National Indoor Championship as they were edged by No. 15 Michigan by a score of 4-2 in their ITA Kickoff Weekend finale.
Michigan seized control of two doubles courts early in the segment as they led courts one and three 3-1. The Knights rallied back as Valeriya Zeleva and Nadja Bay Christians topped Bella Lorenzini and Nicole Hammond 6-3 on court three. Shortly after, Evgeniya Levashova and Domenika Turkovic clinched the doubles point on court two where they edged Giulia Pairone and Chiara Lommer 6-4. No. 3 Rebeka Stolmar and Marie Mattel nearly clinched the match, as they were approaching match point up 5-4 on Alyvia Jones and Andrea Cerdan.
The two sides were evenly matched in singles to begin the afternoon as they split the first sets three apiece. Michigan struck first as Jones beat No. 34 Stolmar 6-4, 6-0 on court four, tying the match at one-all.
No. 54 Mattel answered with a 6-0, 6-4 win on court three where she topped Hammond for her second win of the weekend. Mattel's three-set victory on Saturday clinched the win for the Black and Gold as the defeated Utah 4-3.
Michigan tallied another point on court six where Lorenzini edged Sara Culbertson by a count of 6-4, 6-4. From there, they would ride the momentum to the finish. No. 85 Cerdan came from behind to top No. 40 Zeleva 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 on court two while Lommer held off a surging Ksenia Kuznetsova 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to clinch the match. Levashova was in an intense three-set battle on court one with No. 26 Pairone, as that match went unfinished at 6-4, 1-6, 3-4.
UP NEXT
The Knights will return home for a pair of ranked matchups. They'll host No. 14 FSU on Friday at 5 p.m. and No. 18 Texas A&M on Sunday at noon.
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.
