ORLANDO, Fla. – No. 57 UCF men's tennis team fell short to No. 38 SMU by a score of 3-4 on Friday, March 25, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The Mustangs took the doubles point but No. 35 Bogdan Pavel and Trey Hilderbrand kept their streak going with a 6-2 win on court one over No. 76 Adam Neff and Ivan Thamma.
On court two, Lleyton Cronje and JC Roddick fell to Pranav Kumar and Liam Krall by a score of 2-6 and it came down to court three.
Alan Rubio and Quinn Snyder found themselves down 0-2 but came back to lead 3-2 over Julian Steinhausen and Huntley Allen. The duo couldn't hold on as they fell 3-6 and the SMU took the doubles point.
In singles action, Quinn Snyder put up a strong fight but was edge out by Julian Steinhausen on score six, falling 6-7(4), 2-6, and the Mustangs went up 2-0.
But coming out tough on court four was No. 78 Trey Hilderbrand. Hilderbrand got the win with a score of 6-4, 7-5 over Pranav Kumar, putting the Knights on the board.
Alan Rubio followed suit with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Caleb Chakravarthi on court three to tie the match at two all.
All three courts still in play, was anyone's match.
Bogdan Pavel made a second set comeback to force a third set, but just fell short to Liam Krall on court two, 2-6, 7-6(8), 5-7, and SMU went up again 3-2.
On court one, Lleyton Cronje had a slow start as he found himself down 1-4 but came back to take the first set 7-6(3) over Adam Neff. From there, the two players were neck and neck the entire way through, but Cronje was able to come out victorious with a 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 7-5 win and tied the match at three all.
Down to the final court as JC Roddick was facing Ivan Thamma in the third set. Roddick nearly won his match in a second set tiebreak but just fell short and dropped his match 7-5, 6-7(5), 1-6.
UP NEXT
The Knights continue conference play next weekend at Tulane on Sunday, April 3, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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