ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 11 UCF men's tennis team is set to begin the 2022 season at home at the USTA National Campus in four days.
UCF, the defending conference champion, starts the season with a new program best preseason ranking of No. 11 in the ITA Team Poll, beginning where it left off as the Knights concluded the 2021 season ranked 11th as well after a historic dual match season.
2022 SLATE
The Knights will play 22-regular season dual matches with 12 of them at home. Most notably, 19 of the 22 opponents were ranked in the top 25 in 2021. The Knights also saw 17 of the 22 teams last season while only dropping two matchups with notable wins over Wake Forest, Arkansas and Florida State
UCF is set to face eight teams ranked in the 2022 ITA preseason top 25, including five of the top 10 teams of No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Texas, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 8 Georgia, and No. 10 Wake Forest. To see the entire list, click here.
The Black and Gold will get a chance to climb the rankings right away, as they're scheduled to face No. 8 Georgia in its first match of the season on Monday, January 17, at home followed shortly by taking on the defending national champions, No. 1 Florida, in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday, January 22.
ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND
The Knights earned the right to host a 2022 ITA Kickoff Weekend bracket after a top 15 finish to end the 2021 season, marking the first time in program history they will host the event. UCF will see No. 16 Stanford, Tulane, and Louisville on January 30-31.
The Black and Gold will open ITA Kickoff Weekend against Louisville on January 30 before facing either No. 16 Stanford or Tulane the following day, depending on the result of each match. The two winners from day one will face off in the championship match on January 31 as they'll look to punch their ticket to ITA National Indoors.
ROSTER PREVIEW
UCF returns five important players while adding three powerful newcomers to the roster. The ITA Doubles All-American duo of Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel return after a big 2021 campaign where the pair advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA doubles tournament. Most recently, Hilderbrand ended the fall season ranked 16th in singles, his highest singles ranking to date.
Alan Rubio and Kento Yamada have both come in clutch for the Knights and return for the 2022 season.
Redshirt freshman Quinn Snyder is back to play for the Knights while transfer Lleyton Cronje and freshmen JC Roddick and Cooper White will all suit up in the Black and Gold for the first time.
The 2022 dual match season means that Director of Tennis John Roddick is set to embark on his sixth season at the helm of the program. He and the team have posted a record of 74-35 since his arrival including reaching three NCAA Tournaments and an AAC title.
DEFENDING THE CROWN
Last season, the Knights went undefeated in conference play, 7-0, and went on to win their first title as part of the American Athletic Conference and its fourth conference title in program history (2003, 2004, 2005, 2021). UCF won the AAC tournament with a 4-0 win over Wichita State in the semifinals before defeating South Florida in the final, 4-0.
UCF continued to the NCAA Tournament where it earned its first victory in the big dance in program history over Monmouth.
The Black and Gold will see five conference foes this season and will conclude the regular season with the War On I-4 matchup on April 16 against South Florida. The AAC Tournament is set for April 21-24.
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