ORLANDO, Fla. – In as tight a contest as they come, the No. 15 UCF women's tennis team was narrowly edged by the No. 9 FSU Seminoles 4-3 on Friday evening.
"Today's match was exactly what I thought it would be," said UCF head coach Bryan Koniecko, "It's always a war with Florida State. Very well coached team, they always bring it. Coach Hyde does an incredible job with that group so we knew it was going to be a dog-fight and the match came down to a couple points. We've got to keep working together and keep getting better as a team moving forward."
Doubles play saw FSU strike first as they took court two where Nandini Das and Andrea Garcia beat Domenika Turkovic and Evgeniya Levashova 6-1. The Seminoles clinched the doubles point on court one as Victoria Allen and Petra Hule improved to 5-0 on the season, topping No. 3 Marie Mattel and Rebeka Stolmar 6-3. Court three went unfished as FSU's Emmanuelle Salas and Sasha Hill were in front of Valeriya Zeleva and Nadja Bay Christians 5-4.
Singles play saw tight first sets across all courts. Near the end of the first frames, light rain began to fall. It was just enough to force the match to move indoors. At the time of the move, four matches were tied while the others were split between the two sides. Once play resumed, FSU claimed four of the first six sets.
UCF clinched the first singles point by taking court six. Sara Culbertson defeated Garcia 7-5, 6-1. The Seminoles answered right back as court five saw Allen edge Turkovic in a tight 7-5, 6-4 contest.
The Knights evened the match at 2-2 when No. 40 Zeleva triumphed over Hule at the No. 2 singles spot. The first set needed a tiebreaker, but Zeleva was able to cruise through the second stanza, winning 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.
The Seminoles pulled within one of the clincher on court three where No. 54 Mattel fell to Das 6-4, 6-3. FSU went on to clinch the match on court four where Bay Christians was edged by Hill. The tussle at the No. 4 singles spot was close throughout, but in the end, Hill took the singles point in a close 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3) battle.
"As a freshman who didn't play all fall, Nadja was in a tough position," said Koniecko, "She's tough and she's going to bounce back tomorrow and for Sunday, I know it. And she's going to keep getting better. We're excited for her future."
Court one would get the chance to finish their match. After falling in the first set, Levashova would climb her way back into the match and win a hard fought second set. She'd go on to top Salas 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
The loss is the first time the Knights have been defeated on home court in just over two years. Their last home loss came at the hands of Alabama, a 4-3 decision on Jan. 26, 2018. That's equal to 735 days.
UP NEXT
The Knights will face another tough test on Sunday as No. 18 Texas A&M visits Orlando. The two will square off at noon at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus.
"Texas A&M is going to be the same deal," said Koniecko, "They played Florida State last week and it was a close match. We've just got to get good rest and recoup and be mentally ready."
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