GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The UCF men's tennis team began its 2021 fall campaign at the Gator Fall Invite. Seven Knights were in action on Friday, the first day of the three-day event.
Trey Hilderbrand earned his first victory of the fall, edging No. 86 Ben Shelton in a close match by a score of 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
The other singles matches of the day were close as well, but didn't go the Knights' way.
No. 88 Kento Yamada nearly took down No. 33 Blaise Bicknell in a hard-fought battle, but ultimately fell 6-4, 6-7(2), 4-6.
In his first match as a Knight, JC Roddick went up against Florida's ranked player, No. 103 Mattias Siimar, falling 3-6, 4-6 while Bryan Triana had good looks against No. 14 Andy Andrade, but dropped the match by a score of 3-6, 3-6.
After dropping the first set, Bogdan Pavel came back to win the second to force a third, but would drop the match 3-6, 6-3, 2-6 to Abedallah Shelbayh and Quinn Snyder fell to Florida's Will Grant 1-6, 3-6.
In doubles action, No. 3 Pavel/Hilderbrand were unable to stop No. 57 Shelbayh/Siimar, falling 4-8. The duo of Roddick and Kento would also drop the match 1-8 to Andrade and Grant while Triana and Cooper White fell to Shelton and Nate Bonetto 3-8.
UP NEXT
The Knights will be back tomorrow for day two of the Gator Fall Invite in Gainesville, Fla. UCF will take on South Carolina at 10am.
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