TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 13 UCF men's tennis team extended their winning streak to six matches with a 4-3 road victory over No. 37 South Florida on Saturday afternoon. All six of the Knights' wins on this run have been over ranked opponents.
The doubles point started with a strong victory from No. 29 Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel at the top spot in the lineup, earning a clean 6-0 victory over Chase Ferguson and Pierre Luquet. The UCF tandem hasn't lost since a match when playing together this season, climbing to 4-0 to this point. The Bulls retaliated on court three as Antonio Muniz and Ivan Yatsuk beat Alan Rubio and Kento Yamada 6-3. The Knights secured the doubles segment on court two where Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi bested Jakub Wojcik and Alvin Tudorica 6-3.
The two sides split the first frames evenly, but it was UCF who was the first to collect four points on the day. Hilderbrand was the first to earn a singles victory, topping Luquet 6-2, 6-4 on court five. He's caught fire as of late, winning his last five matches and working his way to a 12-4 record this season.
Yamada was next to complete his match, coming from down 2-4 to win the first frame before triumphing over Sergio Gomez Montesa 6-4, 6-2. Yamada returns to his winning ways after falling in his last decision. He sits at 12-1 this season with a 6-1 record at the No. 4 singles spot.
No. 124 Grassi Mazzuchi clinched the match on court three, triumphing over Yatsuk 6-1, 7-6 (8-6). Grassi Mazzuchi has won five consecutive singles matches and advances to 11-4 this season, including a 6-3 mark at the No. 3 spot in the lineup.
Despite UCF leading 4-0 and the match already in hand, play continued. Moments after the match ended, No. 4 Decamps retired, giving No. 72 Wojcik a 7-6, 1-3 victory. Decamps' streak of 13 consecutive wins came to an end as a result.
The Bulls got another point on the board as Muniz edged Mikhail Sokolovskiy in a third-set super tiebreaker on court six by a count of 6-4, 2-6, 10-7. The final match of the day went to South Florida as well with No. 58 Ferguson topping Rubio 6-0, 7-6 (7-3).
With the win, UCF sweeps the in-season home-and-home with the Bulls, beating them 6-1 earlier in the season on their way to collecting all six possible points in the War On I-4. With baseball's victory on Saturday over the Bulls, the Knights now lead the all-sport tally 34.5-16.5.
UP NEXT
The Knights return home and will be in action tomorrow at home at 1 p.m. as they host No. 25 Tulane at 1 p.m.
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