WACO, Texas – The No. 20 UCF women's tennis team earned a hard fought 4-3 victory over No. 22 Baylor on Tuesday afternoon. The match came down to court five where Nandini Sharma earned a clutch victory in a third-set tiebreaker.
Baylor got out to a strong start in doubles, taking 2-0 leads on each court. The Bears took court three as Livia Kraus and Kris Soroklet beat Marie Mattel and Sharma 6-3. Baylor clinched the doubles point on court one as Mel Krywoj and A. Herrero Linana edged No. 47 Ksenia Kuznetsova and Valeriya Zeleva 6-4. Court two went unfinished as No. 65 Evgeniya Levashova and Domenika Turkovic were tied with Paula Baranano and Angie Shakhraichuk 5-5.
The Knights and Bears split their first sets evenly at three aside. Following the first sets, the Knights picked up a pair of straight set victories.
No. 91 Zeleva was the first to finish, picking up a 6-4, 6-1 win on court two over A. Kharitonova. UCF went up 2-1 off the strength of Turkovic's straight set win on court six as she defeated Soroklet 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
Baylor knotted things up at 2-2 with a win on court four as Herrero Linana edged No. 66 Mattel 7-5, 6-4.
The Knights retook the lead with a win at the No. 1 singles spot where No. 108 Levashova topped Krywoj 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Levashova becomes the first Knight to double digit wins in the dual match season with a record of 10-1. She advances to 8-1 at the top spot in the lineup.
Baylor didn't go away quietly, taking one of the two remaining courts. Baylor's Kraus defeated Kuznetsova in a three-set duel 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
The match came down to court five as Sharma and Shakhraichuk fought back and forth until the very end. After falling in the first set, Sharma rebounded with a 7-6 (7-4) victory in the second frame. That set up what would be the decisive third stanza.
Things were fairly even in the final frame. Once court two fell, Sharma went up 5-3 in the match. Shakhraichuk came back to tie things at 5-5. In a set with multiple breaks and break backs, Sharma broke her opponent to go up 6-5, only to see Shakhraichuk answer right back and tie things up at 6-6.
The seesaw set continued as the fate of the match rested on the third-set tiebreaker. Sharma collected the first four points and looked as if she would run away with it. Shakhraichuk answered by ripping off six consecutive points in the tiebreaker and was poised to take the match. Sharma came right back with four points of her own, clinching the #Power6 victory for the Knights.
This isn't the first time in Sharma's career that she came in clutch as the final court. She won a thrilling battle against the Florida Gators during College MatchDay last season at the No. 6 singles spot and helped the Knights get the 4-3 victory. The win was UCF's first over Florida in program history.
The Black and Gold have now compiled three wins against ranked opponents and a total of five wins over Power 6 opponents and two conference foes to bring their record to 10-3. Baylor loses just their second match of the season, falling to 10-2.
Tuesday's victory was a milestone one, representing the 500th win in program history.
UP NEXT
The Knights will be back in action at home at 3 p.m. on Sunday as they host No. 4 Texas in what could be one of the biggest matches in program history. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive free UCF seat cushions.
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