| NCAA Singles Championships Sunday, May 23 - Friday, May 28 WATCH (TennisONE) | LIVE STATS |
ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 22 Valeriya Zeleva and No. 38 Rebeka Stolmar of the No. 9 UCF women's tennis team are set to continue their season as they'll participate in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship tomorrow morning.
No. 22 Zeleva and No. 38 Stolmar are part of a 64 student-athlete field competing to become a national champion in singles. Zeleva's path begins at 10 a.m. against No. 9-16 nationally seeded, No. 9 ranked Natasha Subhash of Virginia while Stolmar is set to square off with Georgia's No. 55 Lea Ma at 11:30 a.m.
Both Zeleva and Stolmar will be seeking the first NCAA Singles Championship victory in program history. Zeleva was just the second Knight to ever earn a berth into the individual tournament back in 2019 and is the first to make multiple appearances. Stomlar became the third member of the Black and Gold to make the tournament with her at-large bid. The only other Knight to reach the NCAA Singles Championship was Veronica Widyadharma, who was ranked No. 66 in 1999.
Zeleva enters the tournament riding a 13-match winning streak and a record of 13-2 this season. She hasn't lost since January 25 when she fell in a three-set battle against then No. 8 NC State's top singles player. Zeleva has beaten eight ranked opponents in 10 tries and has climbed as high as No. 17 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings this season. Her opponent in No. 9 Subhash has played all but one match at No. 2 singes, going 16-5 overall in the dual match season. She has gone 7-4 against ranked opponents and was named to the All-ACC first team.
Stolmar comes into the weekend with a singles record of 13-7 and a trio of wins against ranked opponents. She's primarily seen time at the No. 2 singles spot, going 8-5. She's answered the calling at No. 1 singles as well this season, posting a 4-1 mark at the top slot. Stolmar climbed to a career best singles ranking to No. 28 in her final campaign as a Knight. Ma, Stolmar's opposition on Sunday afternoon, is a sophomore who currently sits at No. 55 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings and has a career best singles ranking of No. 18.
Zeleva and Stomar are lined up on opposite sides of the bracket, so no UCF vs. UCF matchup is possible until the championship match. This is the first occasion that the Black and Gold have had two Knights in the NCAA singles draw. Zeleva earned a spot in the competition for being the highest ranked singles player in the conference at the end of the season while Stolmar got in via an at-large selection.
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