ORLANDO – The UCF women's tennis team takes a Top 10 ranking into the NCAA Tournament, checking in at No. 9 in the Oracle/ITA team rankings. Two Knights also rank in the Top 40 of the Oracle/ITA singles rankings.
The Knights' team ranking matches their national seed in the NCAA Tournament – the first time UCF has earned a national seed in program history. The Black and Gold earned hosting rights for the entirety of the NCAA Championship. The Knights welcome Charleston Southern, FIU and Miami for first and second round action, which begins on May 7 at the USTA National Campus.
Valeriya Zeleva enters the NCAA Tournament as the No. 22 singles player in the nation. The redshirt junior earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Singles championship for the second-straight tournament on Tuesday. After losing the first two matches of the season, Zeleva has won 12 straight matches and is 7-2 against ranked opposition.
UCF captain Rebeka Stolmar slipped one spot to No. 38 this week in singles. On Tuesday, she became the third Knight in program history to reach the NCAA Singles Championship, securing an at-large berth. Stolmar been victorious in her last two decisions and is 12-6 on the campaign. The team's go-to No. 2 singles player, she has a 7-4 record in the slot.
Zeleva and Stolmar are the conference's two highest ranked singles players.
The Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 kept UCF at No. 9 in the final poll prior to the NCAA Tournament.
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