Knights Finish 2021 Ranked #11

ORLANDO, Fla. – After earning the team's first conference title as part of The American and earning its first NCAA Tournament win, the UCF men's tennis team finishes the season at No. 11 in the final release of the Oracle/ITA team rankings.

The 2021 season was perhaps the best season in program history as the team collected a 22-4 record, their highest win total as a Division I program. It was the first time the team had won 22 games or more since the 1978 Knights went 22-6. This was one of three seasons that UCF had totaled 22 or more victories and one of six instances where the team collected 20 or more. A dozen of UCF's 22 wins were over ranked opponents and 14 of their victories were consecutive. The 14-match winning streak started with seven straight victories over ranked opponents and wound up totaling a dozen by the time the streak ended in the NCAA Tournament Second Round.

The team earned their first conference title since 2005 and first as part of The American, sweeping No. 33 Wichita State and No. 29 South Florida on their way to punching an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Knights went on to sweep Monmouth in the first round, earning the team's first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.

The computerized rankings had UCF as the second-highest ranked program in the state only behind Florida who ended the season with a national championship victory. Other in state-teams to finish in the top 75 behind the Knights were South Florida at No. 29, Miami at No. 43, FSU at No. 54, FAU at No. 63 and FGCU at No. 65. UCF went 10-1 against in-state schools this season, beating South Florida three times and North Florida twice.

The Knights finished the season as the highest ranked program in the conference after The American consistently had seven teams ranked in the top 50 during the regular season. Tulane was closest to UCF at No. 23, followed by No. 29 South Florida, No. 35 Memphis, No. 37 Wichita State, No. 45 SMU and No. 46 Tulsa. Five of the American's eight teams made the NCAA Tournament this season.

The Black and Gold reached their highest ranking in program history and continued to raise the bar as the season went along. The team climbed as high as No. 9 in the Oracle/ITA team rankings on the way to the program's first national seed, checking into the NCAA Tournament as the ninth seed. UCF reached the No. 9 mark after a thrilling 4-3 win over Wake Forest.

The Knights were tabbed as the nation's No. 16 team entering the 2021 campaign, which was a program record ranking at the time.

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