ORLANDO – The UCF men's tennis team found success in its first day of fall competition with multiple Knights advancing in both singles and doubles play at the UCF Fall Sizzler, the team's first tournament of the fall.
Cooper White cruised to a win in his first match of the season, topping Kennesaw State's Anthony Weingarten by a score of 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the blue draw. White will match up with FGCU's Marcelo Sepulveda on Saturday.
Luca Hotze opened his tenure as a Knight with a solid victory in singles, beating Furman's John Rado 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 in the green draw. Hotze advances to the quarterfinals where he'll face the second seed of the draw, Stetson's Lucas Olivier.
Also in action in the green draw was Quinn Snyder, who was narrowly beaten by Georgia Southern's Alex Suk, who advanced with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 result. Snyder will face Stetson's Bendit Shroder in a back draw match on Saturday.
Emilio Sanchez couldn't pull out a victory in his UCF debut, falling to North Florida's Rodrigo Crespo in the orange singles draw. Sanchez will face either Furman's Ben Cahill or Jason Smith in tomorrow's back draw.
Two Knights were not in action in singles on Friday as Bogdan Pavel, the top seed of the red draw, earned a bye into the quarterfinals and will face FGCU's Gugliemo Stefanacci on Saturday. Mehdi Benchakroun, the second seed of the orange draw, also earned a bye on Friday and will go toe-to-toe with Juan Jose Gasceron of Stetson in the quarterfinals.
After earning a bye as the top seed in the fire doubles draw, Pavel and Benchakroun were able to prevail over Kennesaw State's Weingarten and Patel, beating them by a score of 6-3. The Knight duo punched their ticket to the semifinal round with the victory and will face North Florida's Carrol and Vietri tomorrow.
Snyder and Sanchez also took part in the fire doubles draw, earning a win over FGCU's Bradford and Lopez by a score of 6-3. The victory moved them onto the quarterfinal round, where they were topped by Stetson's tandem of Olivier and Gasceron, who were the No. 3 seed of the draw and pulled out the 6-3 win.
In the ice doubles draw, White and Hotze were beaten by Georgia Southern's Clair and Castillo. The Knight duo will face FGCU's Wilson and Oncins in the back draw tomorrow.
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