#28 Ole Miss vs. #14 UCF February 21, 2020, 5:00 p.m. |
ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 14 UCF women's tennis team is set for its second matchup against a ranked SEC team as the Knights host No. 28 Ole Miss at 5 p.m. on Friday at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus.
The Black and Gold are in the midst of a four-match winning streak, adding three convincing victories to their resume over the weekend. UCF picked up two Power 6 victories after beating TCU 4-1 and sweeping Nebraska 4-0. The Knights sandwiched a 4-1 win over UC Santa Barbara in between those matches.
UCF has won five straight matches against SEC opponents, dating back to last season. The Black and Gold beat Alabama twice, Ole Miss and Florida in 2019 before defeating No. 18 Texas A&M this year 5-2. UCF has gone 6-1 against SEC teams since Bryan Koniecko took over as head coach in the 2016-17 campaign. The Rebels are the final SEC opponent on the Knights' 2020 schedule.
Ole Miss will visit Orlando for the first time since 1979, bringing a 7-2 record with them. Friday will be the Rebels' final nonconference match before starting SEC play. Ole Miss is fresh into the rankings at No. 28, as the Oracle/ITA team poll expanded from 25 ranked teams to 50 this week.
Sabina Machalova is the lone ranked Rebel, sitting at No. 47 in the singles rankings. She's posted a 5-1 record at the top singles spot with a win over a ranked opponent. Ole Miss doesn't have a ranked doubles pair at the moment, but their top doubles pair consisting of Machalova and Alexa Bortles have gone 4-1 to this point.
The Knights went on the road and dominated Ole Miss last season, posting a 6-1 final. It was the first time that UCF had ever played the Rebels in Mississippi. The only other meeting between the two sides came during the Black and Gold's first year with a women's tennis program when UCF fell via a sweep on the road in 1979.
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