ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 33/21 UCF Knights cruised to a 5-2 victory over FAU on Sunday afternoon at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus. It was just the Knights' second home match of the season and first in over 40 days. The match put an end to the Black and Gold's 18-day stretch without a match.
"We've had a little bit of a layoff recently," said UCF Director of Tennis John Roddick, "The doubles point was good, we hit some speed bumps in singles here and there, but overall it was pretty good. It's not completly unexpected to have some speed bumps after a break but at the same time we have to clean it up."
The doubles segment started with the Black and Gold jumping out to big advantages on two of three courts. Finishing first was Bogdan Pavel and Trey Hilderbrand as they topped Maxime Lapraille and Filip Krolo 6-2 on court two. Just seconds later, No. 7 Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi clinched the match's first point with a 6-2 win at the top spot. This was the first time that the two had played together at the No. 1 spot in the lineup. Court three went unfinished as Mikhail Sokolovskiy and Alan Rubio led Yovan Lambros and Gerard Escandell 5-3.
UCF started out strong in singles play, winning four of the six first sets. But before all first sets could go final, the Knights were able to grab two singles courts.
No. 59 Grassi Mazzuchi was the first to earn a singles point, tallying a ranked win over No. 114 Lapraille 6-2, 6-0 on court two. No. 14 Decamps followed suit, earning a quick victory on court one over Legall 6-2, 6-1.
The Knights clinched the match on court six as Sokolovskiy improved his singles record to 6-0 to begin the season. He won a tough first set but coasted through the second frame, beating Escandell 7-6 (10-8), 6-0.
The two sides agreed to play out the remaining matches. The next match done was court four, as Pavel fell to Lambros 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Rubio added the final UCF point of the match as he topped A. Fernandez Horta in a third set super tiebreaker 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 10-5. Court five was the last to finish as Krolo edged Hilderbrand in a third set tiebreak 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3).
UP NEXT
The Knights are right back in action tomorrow at 11 a.m. at home as they host the Stetson Hatters.
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF Men's Tennis on social media on Facebook (/UCF.MTennis), Twitter (UCF_MTennis) and Instagram (UCF.MTennis).
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.