ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 17/18 UCF women's tennis team earned its 13th win and their sixth sweep of the season as they bested the Bulls 7-0 on Friday afternoon.
"Obviously it was good to get a 7-0 win," said head coach Bryan Koniecko. "We came out well in doubles, Lera and Ksenia set the tone. I thought we did well in the beginning of singles, we let some courts back in in the second set which is something we need to a little better of a job on. All in all, good to get a win against a rival."
The Knights have defeated South Florida in four straight meetings, a streak of 1455 days without losing to the Bulls. The Black and Gold now hold a 40.5-16.5 edge in the all-sports War On I-4 tally, adding six points to the total count.
UCF started out strong in doubles, jumping out to big leads across all courts. No. 75 Ksenia Kuznetsova and Valeriya Zeleva cruised to a 6-0 victory over Alexandria Mjos and Grace Schumacher on court one. The Knight tandem is now 10-1 this season and have won their last three matches. The Black and Gold secured the doubles point with a win on court tow where Evgeniya Levashova and Nadja Bay Christians bested Laura Pellicer and Margriet Timmermans 6-2. Court three went unfinished but saw Rebeka Stolmar and Nandini Sharma leading Grace Eland and Evelyne Tiron 5-3.
The Knights kept the momentum rolling into singles, winning all six first sets.
Kuznetsova got the party started with a victory on court four as she topped Mjos 6-3, 6-2. The win moves her record to 10-2 on the campaign.
Sharma was next as she earned a 6-1, 6-4 win over Lucia Garrigues on court six to get UCF within one of the clincher. Sharma has won her last five matches and is now 6-1 in 2021. The Knight captain sealed the match on court two as No. 38 Stolmar beat Schumacher 7-5, 6-1. Play was allowed to continue following the clincher.
The Black and Gold took care of business on the remaining courts. No. 25 Zeleva earned her ninth straight victory in singles with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4) win over Pellicer. No. 85 Levashova wrapped up her match next, topping Tiron 6-2, 7-5 on court three. The sweep was completed on court five where Jaleesa Leslie beat Timmermans 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to extend her winning streak to six matches.
UCF remains perfect on home court this season, winning all 10 of their matches at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus. With just one match remaining, the Knights have a chance to record their second perfect home slate in the last three seasons. The Black and Gold went 15-0 at home during the 2019 dual match season as they went on to win their first conference title as part of The American and later advanced to their first NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
UP NEXT
The Knights will take their final road trip of the regular season as they visit No. 4 Florida State on Apr. 15 at 4:45. The match will be televised on ACC Network Extra. UCF will conclude their regular season as they host Tulsa on Apr. 19.
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