ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 24 UCF women's tennis team got the huge upset over No. 9 Oklahoma State on Sunday, March 20, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
For the fifth time this season, the Knights earned a win over a ranked opponent but the first over a top-10 team.
The Knights broke the Cowgirls' 11-match win streak, giving them only their second loss of the season.
UCF did not come out looking like an underdog as the Knights clinched the doubles point to set the tone of the match.
Despite losing court two as Sophia Biolay and Nandini Sharma fell to No. 22 Ayumi Miyamoto and Lisa Marie Rioux, 0-6, UCF was able to grab court one and three with little difficulty.
Jaleesa Leslie and Noel Saidenova brought momentum to the Knights with a 6-3 win over Alana Wolfberg and Oona Orpana on court three while shortly after No. 57 Evgeniya Levashova and Marie Mattel earned an upset over No. 38 Mananchaya Sawangkaew and Martina Zerulo on court one with a 6-2 win to extend their win streak to five and clinch the doubles point.
In singles action, the Knights started strong, but momentum shifted mid-way through as No. 61 Evgeniya Levashova fell to No. 40 Lisa Marie Rioux, 1-6, 3-6, on court one and Jaleesa Leslie dropped her match to Martina Zerulo, 6-7(3), 1-6, on court three, giving the Cowgirls the 2-1 lead in the match.
But UCF never gave up.
On court six, Nandini Sharma flew through the first set, 6-0, but dropped the second set, 5-7. Sharma continued to fight and earned her sixth-straight win, defeating Sofia Rojas with a score of 6-0, 5-7, 6-4, to tie the match at two all.
But shortly after, Noel Saidenova's comeback fell short to No. 34 Mananchaya Sawangkaew on court two by a score of 5-7, 6-4, 2-6.
Two courts remained and the Cowgirls only needed one to clinch the match but the Knights were resilient.
Sophia Biolay battled back after dropping the first set, 0-6, to Alana Wolfberg by earning a 7-5 second set win. Biolay was up 5-3 in the third, but Wolfberg tried to make it interesting and forced a tiebreaker. They were going point for point, but Biolay was not going to go down as she secured a big win for the Knights on court five, 0-6, 7-5, 7-6(8), and extended to a four-match win strea.
While Biolay was in her tiebreaker, No. 100 Marie Mattel had forced a third set to No. 82 Oona Orpana on court four.
Mattel and Orpana had been neck and neck all the way through this four-hour match as Mattel dropped set one in an extra-long tiebreak, 7-6(9), but came back to take the second in 7-5. Mattel used the energy from the crowd and her teammates to upset her opponent and Oklahoma State, winning the third set with a score of 6-4.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Head Coach Bryan Koniecko
[On the upset]
This was a big match circled on our schedule. We have a lot of respect for Oklahoma State, and we knew it was going to be a tough match today. It was over a four-hour match, it was a great collegiate tennis match and we were fortunate to save a couple match points on Sophia's court. We had a lot of chances too, but I am proud of how we kept fighting and our resilience in coming back.
Marie Mattel
[On clinching the match]
I am so happy for me and the team. It was up to me and Sophia at the end. I was so happy when she won, and I just gave everything. As a team, we gave it everything we had, left everything we had on the court, and it ended good for us. I am so happy and proud of the team.
UP NEXT
The Knights are back home to take on Yale on Thursday, March 24, and will close out home action against FAU on Sunday, March 27, for Senior Knight.
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