ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 9 ranked and nationally seeded UCF women's tennis team advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament as it defeated Charleston Southern by a score of 4-0 on Friday evening. The Knights have now successfully advanced past the first round of the big dance in three straight appearances.
"I really liked how we came out in singles," said head coach Bryan Koniecko. "Everyone is good in the NCAA Tournament. I think we came out really strong in singles and did what we had to do. We're gonna get some rest, get a ready for another tough match tomorrow and talk some tactics with the team. I know they're excited to play another big match for UCF."
The Black and Gold jumped ahead on two of the three doubles courts, taking 3-1 leads on each. Court one finished first as Valeriya Zeleva and Ksenia Kuznetsova bested Madalina Man and Khyanna Singh 6-2. The Bucs struck back on court two as Tiffany Pyritz and Zoe Cauthen edged Evgeniya Levashova and Nadja Bay Christians 6-4. The doubles point was decided on court three as Rebeka Stolmar and Nandini Sharma triumphed by a count of 6-3 over Luiza Fullana and Michelle Schmitz.
The Knights dominated the singles segment, only losing a total of three games across all six first frames.
UCF carried their momentum over into the second stanza and nearly had four courts finish all at once. Jaleesa Leslie was the first to earn a singles victory as she cruised past Schmitz 6-0, 6-1 on court five to improve to 14-4 this season.
Finishing moments later was Marie Mattel as she triumphed over Cauthen 6-1, 6-1 to put the Knights within one of the clinching point. Kuznetsova sealed the deal a few points later as she won her match by a count of 6-1, 6-1 as well.
The Knights controlled the three courts that went unfinished. No. 22 Zeleva was on match point when the match concluded as she nearly earned the clincher. Sharma was also close as she was up 5-1 in her second set after winning 6-0 in the first.
The sweep is the eighth of the season for the Black and Gold, which matches the eight the team tallied in the 2019 season when the Knights went 24-4.
UCF advances to a 4-2 record in the NCAA Tournament under Koniecko. The team has made it to the big dance in three of his four full seasons with the Black and Gold, reaching the postseason in three consecutive tries. 2018 saw the Knights beat FIU in the first round before falling to nationally seeded Miami by a count of 4-3. UCF swept Alabama in the first round of the 2019 tournament before upsetting the No. 11 nationally seeded FSU Seminoles by a count of 4-1.
UP NEXT
The Knights will face No. 23 Miami in the Round of 32 tomorrow at 5 p.m. at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center at the USTA National Campus. The Black and Gold are looking to advance to their second straight Sweet 16 but will have to beat Miami for a second time this season to do so.
"They have a bit of a different lineup than when we faced them earlier this season," said Koniecko. "That was a couple of months ago, a lot of things can change. They've obviously got some good players, they fight, and they've got a great program historically. There's no bad teams in the Round of 32 so we're going to have to show up and be confident and fight."
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF Women's Tennis on social media on Facebook (/UCF.WTennis), Twitter (UCF_WTennis) and Instagram (UCFWTennis).
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news. Click here to download the app now.
