ORLANDO, Fla. – After picking up a pair of wins in a weekend swing to New Orleans, the UCF women's tennis team sits at No. 17 in the USTA College Tennis Top 25 and at No. 18 in the Oracle/ITA team rankings. Additionally, the Black and Gold have four singles players ranked at once for the first time in program history and have three doubles tandems ranked at once for the second time this season.
The Knights have climbed as high as No. 13 in USTA's poll this season and has gone one spot higher to No. 12 in the Oracle/ITA rankings. UCF took a bit of a hit in both rankings after their loss to then No. 28 Ole Miss but have climbed right back up the rankings after cruising to a 6-1 win over No. 29 Old Dominion and shutting out conference-foe Tulane 7-0.
A record four players sit in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings this week. Evgeniya Levashova enters the rankings for the first time as a Knight, joining Rebeka Stolmar, Marie Mattel and Valeriya Zeleva.
Stolmar leads the way in the rankings at No. 42, falling just one spot from two weeks ago. She put together an impressive fall campaign which propelled her up the singles rankings to No. 34. The captain looks to climb back towards her career high as the Knights get into the heart of the dual match season.
Mattel checks in at No. 66 this week, climbing four spots from the previous release. She has posted a 7-3 record to this point in the year and has won her last three matches. She's seen most of her action at the number three spot in singles, posting a 4-2 record. Mattel has climbed as high as No. 54 in her career after impressing during the tournament season.
Zeleva sits at No. 91 in this week's edition of the singles rankings. Zeleva has posted a mark of 6-2 so far during the 2020 dual match season, including a pair of wins at the top spot in the lineup. She was an anchor for the Knights at No. 1 singles last season, winning the conference's player of the year award and compiling victories over 10 ranked opponents.
Levashova rounds out the ranked Knights at No. 108 this week, her first ranking as a member of the Black and Gold. At Pepperdine, Levashova was a top 25 singles player and looks to get back to that mark in a new uniform. She's on the right track to keep climbing as she's gone 8-1 to start the season with six of those wins at the top spot in the lineup.
UCF has a trio of doubles pairs ranked at once for just the second time in program history, with the first time coming roughly a month ago.
Stolmar and Mattel still lead the way in doubles for the Knights, sitting at No. 10 in this week's rankings. The duo has won their last three matches, picking up one of their wins at the top doubles spot.
Ksenia Kuznetsova and Zeleva are off to a 5-0 start this season and check in at No. 47 this week's doubles rankings. The tandem picked up a win at the top spot in their last decision. The pair went to the NCAA Doubles Championships last season and collected the first victory in the tournament in program history.
Domenika Turkovic and Levashova make up the final ranked pair for the Black and Gold as they sit at No. 65 this week. The pair has won their last three matches together, collecting a total record of 5-1 this season.
UP NEXT
The Knights are back in action on Saturday as they travel to SMU on March 7 for a noon match.
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