ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 9 UCF men's tennis team earned its ninth straight victory and moves to 17-3 this season after topping No. 29 Wichita State 5-2 on Monday afternoon.
"The guys did a great job of picking up the doubles point despite the loss at No. 1," said Director of Tennis John Roddick. "We got some early leads in singles and got to the finish line from there. Wichita State fought hard and competed well and made it hard for us to get to the end. We eventually got there and now look forward to Sunday."
With the win, the Black and Gold eclipse the 16-win mark for the first time under Roddick's tenure and for the first time since 2003, the year in which the Knights won their first conference title. The 2021 dual match campaign marks the 13th season that UCF has won more than 16 matches in a season.
The Knights jumped out to big leads on two of three doubles court but saw the one they weren't leading on finish first. No. 72 Marius Frosa and Murkel Dellien handed Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel their first loss of the season, beating them 6-3 at the top spot in doubles. UCF retaliated on court two where Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi bested Luka Mrsic and Orel Ovil by a count of 6-3. The Knights earned the doubles point on court three where Mikhail Sokolovskiy and Kento Yamada beat Stefan Latinovic and Nicolas Acevedo 6-3.
UCF won five of six first sets and were well on their way to a dominating performance. Yamada was the first to finish his match, beating Ovil 6-2, 6-2 on court four, advancing to 15-1 this season.
No. 124 Grassi Mazzuchi followed suit, edging Latinovic 6-4, 6-4 right next door on court three. He now sits with a 12-5 record this season including a 7-4 mark at the No. 3 spot in singles.
The Knights earned the clinching point on court six as Sokolovskiy triumphed over Mrsic 6-2, 7-5 to also move to 12-5 on the campaign.
Play was allowed to continue following the clinching point. UCF immediately tallied another point on the scoreboard as the Shockers' Acevedo retired as Hilderbrand was leading over him 7-5, 4-6, 3-0 on court five.
The remaining two courts went Wichita State's way as Alan Rubio was edged on court two by Frosa by a count of 6-2, 6-3, 10-8 in a super tiebreaker. Court one went to the Shockers in a three-set duel as Dellien beat No. 4 Decamps 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
This was just the second all-time meeting between the two squads with the previous tilt resulting in a 4-0 win for UCF in the American Athletic Conference semifinals in 2019. The victory moves the Knights to 5-0 in conference play this season.
UP NEXT
The Black and Gold will conclude their regular season slate with a pair of matches against conference foes in the next week. UCF hosts Memphis on Apr. 18 at noon before facing Tulsa on Apr. 20 at 5 p.m.
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