ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 16 UCF women's tennis team earned their third straight victory and improved to 8-0 at home with a 6-1 win over North Florida on Saturday afternoon.
The Knights got their momentum rolling early in the doubles segment as Nandini Sharma and Jaleesa Leslie jumped out to a quick 6-1 win on court three, beating Sean Lodkzki and Valentina Mariotto. No. 60 Ksenia Kuznetsova and Valeriya Zeleva locked up the doubles point for UCF as they earned a 6-3 victory at the top spot over Catherine Gulihur and Ana Paula Melilo. Kuznetsova and Zeleva improve to 9-1 this season as a duo with Saturday's win. Court two went unfinished as Evgeniya Levashova and Marion Deloziere were tied at 4-4 with Lucia Montano and Constanza Gorches.
With the doubles point in hand, the Knights powered their way to five first set victories. Riding the wave of confidence shown by the team, Kuznetsova went on to quickly win her eighth consecutive singles match, besting Melilo 6-2, 6-2 on court three.
Finishing soon after Kuznetsova was Leslie on court four where she earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Gorches. The freshman has been impressive in 2021, collecting an 8-3 record in singles.
Sharma sealed the match for the Knights as she earned the clinching point on court five. She came all the way back from being down 5-1 in the second stanza to earn the 6-4, 7-5 straight set victory over Summer Yardley.
The remaining courts were allowed to finish their matches following the clincher. No. 67 Zeleva finished just after the match was decided earning a gritty three-set victory over No. 84 Montano in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 battle. The win is Zeleva's eighth in a row and is her fifth triumph over a ranked opponent this season.
UNF found their lone point of the day on court six where Annabelle Davis edged Deloziere 6-3, 5-7, 11-9. Deloziere showed resilience in her first collegiate singles match as she went down 4-1 in the second set and rallied to win the frame. She reached match point in the third set super tiebreaker but couldn't close the door on Davis, who won the final three points to take the match.
The Knights capped off the afternoon with a victory from No. 95 Levashova on court two where she defeated Gulihur 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 10-6 in a super tiebreaker. Levashova advances to 6-2 this season with a perfect 3-0 record at the second spot in the lineup.
UCF's win on Saturday afternoon gets them to a record of 10-3 on the year, which is exactly where the team left off in 2020. The Knights' final win to get them to 10-3 last season was a 4-3 road victory over a ranked Baylor squad.
The Black and Gold even the all-time series with the Ospreys at nine matches a side. UCF is 3-0 under head coach Bryan Koniecko against UNF.
UP NEXT
The Knights will get to rest up for two weeks as they aren't back in action until Mar. 28 when they host SMU at noon to open conference play in 2021. SMU is one of just three American Athletic Conference opponents UCF will face in the regular season.
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