ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 18 UCF women's tennis team concluded its regular season with a 4-2 victory over No. 46 Tulsa on Monday afternoon. The match was also Senior Day for Rebeka Stolmar, Ksenia Kuznetsova and Sara Culbertson.
"It was great to go out on Senior Day and get a win for Rebeka, Ksenia and Sara," said head coach Bryan Koniecko. "They've made this program what it is today so it's nice to send them out on a win. Fortunately, we get to play a few more matches at home which is nice. Tulsa did a great job today. They're very good and we knew that coming in; they played with a little more fight and energy than we did in the first 30 minutes, but thought we did a good job turning it around. That last 45 minutes was as good as we've played, we just have to come out with that intensity, and we'll hang with anyone."
Senior Day wound up being more of a Senior Knight for the Black and Gold as weather in the area pushed the start time of the match from noon to 4:15 p.m. ET.
The match began with a doubles segment that went the distance, requiring all three courts to finish their matches. Tulsa struck first as No. 77 Vera Ploner and Martina Oklaova beat No. 44 Stomlar and Marie Mattel on court one 6-1. UCF's tandem on court three answered with a 6-1 win of their own as Evgeniya Levashova and Nadja Bay Christians beat Laia Conde Monfort and Megan Hopton. Court two was the deciding factor as Kuznetsova and Valeriya Zeleva went on to win 6-3 over Valeriya Rozenkova and Shura Poppe.
The match was tight in the beginning as Tulsa and UCF split all first sets equally. As first sets rolled into second sets, multiple matches finished within moments of each other. Court five finished first as Rozenkova topped Bay Christians 6-1, 6-4 to even the match. Tulsa followed their victory up with another as No. 28 Stolmar was edged by Monfort 6-2, 6-4.
The Golden Hurricane edge lasted only seconds, as while Tulsa was still celebrating their 2-1 advantage, Kuznetsova earned a victory on her Senior Day by taking court four over Ploner by a score of 6-2, 6-4.
No. 110 Levashova wrapped up her match shortly after, earning a 6-3, 6-1 win over Poppe on court three. Nandini Sharma went on to clinch the match by winning her seventh straight match, downing Benedejcic 6-1, 6-4.
The home victory means the home slate remains unblemished this season. UCF went 11-0 at home, the second time they've accomplished the feat in the past three years, achieving it last in 2019 when they won their first conference title as part of The American.
UP NEXT
The Knights await their opponent in the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship. They'll face either the eighth-seeded Bulls of South Florida or the No. 9 seed Temple on Friday at 12:30 p.m. ET. The Black and Gold are the top seed in the conference.
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF Women's Tennis on social media on Facebook (/UCF.WTennis), Twitter (UCF_WTennis) and Instagram (UCFWTennis).
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news. Click here to download the app now.
