ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF women's team will begin the 2021 dual match season with four singles players ranked as well as two doubles tandems. The rankings are highlighted by Rebeka Stolmar checking in at No. 42 in singles and Marie Mattel paired with Stolmar at No. 6 in the doubles rankings.
The Knights had four singles players ranked in the last edition of rankings back in early March 2020, a program record. Those same four players are ranked again to begin the campaign. This is the first time UCF has all four inside the top 100.
Stolmar sits at No. 42 in the singles rankings, exactly where she left off to end the 2020 season. Stolmar battled some injuries during the beginning of last season and had just begun to catch her stride when the year was cut short.
Valeriya Zeleva climbs to No. 67 in the singles rankings, which is quite a jump from the No. 91 spot she finished with last season. She posted an impressive 8-2 mark, including picking up a pair of wins at the No. 1 singles position.
Mattel checks in at No. 72 to begin 2021. After only being in the rankings for a span of two weeks in 2019, Mattel was a staple in the top 70 for the entirety of the shortened 2020 season. She finished the year with a 7-5 mark in singles, including going 4-2 at the No. 3 spot in the lineup.
Evgeniya Levashova rounds out the ranked Knights at No. 95, marking the first time in program history that four singles players are inside the top 100. Levashova was primarily the No. 1 singles player for UCF last season, posting an 8-1 mark at the top spot in the lineup. Overall, she compiled a 10-1 clip during 2020 and picked up three American Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors along the way, becoming the only Knight to ever do so.
Stolmar and Mattel continue to be ranked among the elite doubles tandems of college tennis, checking in at No. 6 in the preseason doubles rankings. The two only got five chances to finish a match together in 2020, collecting a 3-2 mark. The pair dominated in the fall of 2019, propelling themselves all the way up to the No. 3 spot that November.
Zeleva and Ksenia Kuznetsova are the other ranked duo for the Knights, sitting at the No. 60 spot. The tandem compiled a 5-2 record during the 2020 season, including a perfect 4-0 record at the third doubles spot in the lineup. The pair earned a trip to the 2019 NCAA Doubles Championships and were looking to get back to the tournament last season. Zeleva and Kuznetsova have climbed as high as No. 7 in the rankings in their time playing together. They have been in every release of the Oracle/ITA doubles rankings since February of 2019.
The Oracle/ITA team rankings are set to release tomorrow. UCF finished the season at No. 20 in the final release of the team rankings.
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