CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – The No. 18 UCF women's tennis team dropped its road match to No. 7 Virginia by a score of 5-2 on Friday, February 4, in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In doubles, it came down to the final court, but Virginia was able to win the doubles point.
On court one, No. 50 Evgeniya Levashova and Valeriya Zeleva fell to Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash, 6-2, but shortly after Noel Saidenova and Nandini Sharma defeated Amber O'Dell and Sara Ziodato on court three by a score of 6-3 to tie it up.
Virginia then won on court two to clinch the doubles point as Nadja Bay Christians and Marie Mattel fell to Sofia Munera and Hibah Shaikh, 6-4.
In singles, No. 64 Valeriya Zeleva fell to No. 90 Elaine Chervinsky, 6-2, 6-1, on court one while Sophia Biolay fell to Sara Ziodato on court five, 6-3, 6-3, as the Cavaliers went up 3-0.
Nandini Sharma put up a fight against Hibah Shaikh on court six, but fell 7-5, 6-3, which clinched the match for Virginia, 4-0.
Despite the match being clinched, the Knights played tough to finish it out. Noel Saidenova got the win on court three after Sofia Munera retired in the third set, 6-4, 4-6, 4-3, giving UCF its first point, 1-4.
No. 102 Marie Mattel never gave up on court four. After falling 2-6 in the first set, Mattel came back to win the second in 7-5, forcing a third. As Virginia already clinched the match, the third set turned to a super tie break where the two players were trading points. But Mattel got the edge and defeated O'Dell, 13-11, giving UCF another point 2-4.
Then on court two, No. 37 Evgeniya Levashova made things interesting against No. 29 Natasha Subhash and also forced a super tie break, but fell 3-6, 7-6(6), 10-12 in the end.
UP NEXT
The Knights return home on Sunday, February 6, to take on Georgia Southern at 11:00 a.m. from the USTA National Campus.
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