JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The UCF women's tennis team wrapped their run at the UNF Fall Invitational this weekend. A trio of Knights participated, with doubles pairing Sophia Biolay and Marie Mattel going undefeated, winning their flight.
In the tournament that included eight collegiate teams, Biolay and Mattel took part in both the singles and doubles main draw, while Jaleesa Leslie played in just the singles draw.
For their first time playing together this fall season, Biolay and Mattel dominated from the jump. They began their undefeated run on Saturday morning, where they faced off against the duo of Minorka Miranda and Marta Perez Mur from Maryland. The Knights pair defeated them easily, with a score of 6-4. From there, they secured a swift victory over North Carolina's Lucia Quiterio and Margaux Marquet in the East semifinals by a score of 6-2. The finals proved to be a bit more of a challenge for Biolay and Mattel, where they competed against Anna Arkadianou and Vic Allen from Florida State. After being tied 5-5, the Knights swept the final two games of the set (7-5), crowning them flight champions.
Leslie found the most success in the singles draws, going 2-1 in her flight. She encountered her first loss in her first match against eventual flight finalist Alice Amendola from Florida state. The first set of the two-set match was close, but Amendola came out on top to take both of the sets to advance by a score of 7-5, 6-3. After moving to the West draw stage, Leslie took on Perez Mur. Leslie easily took the first set with a score of 6-4, winning the match after Perez Mur was forced to retire. Advancing to the West draw final, she easily took down Lucie Petruzelova from North Carolina in the first set with a score of 6-1. The second set was closely contested, but Leslie came out on top with a score of 7-5 to win the match and the draw championship.
Mattel had a tougher run in the singles draw, with a record of 1-2 and two of the matches going to tiebreakers. In the first round, she faced Marquet once more, this time on her own. The match was evenly fought, but Mattel gained an advantage in the tiebreaker set and never looked back, winning the match with a score of (7-6 [7-3], 1-6, 1-0 [10-3]). After advancing to the second round, she also faced Florida State's Arkadianou again. After a swift first set victory from Mattel, Arkadianou won the next set and the tiebreaker to win the match (6-2, 2-6, 0-1 [2-10]). This turned out to be the last match played by Mattel, as she was forced to retire her match against Eleni Louka from Clemson.
Biolay faced a similar fate to Mattel in singles, also going 1-2, but only one of her matches went to a tiebreaker set. She took a commanding victory over Clemson's Daniella Medvedeva in the first round, winning with a score of (6-2, 6-1). Biolay then moved on to the second round, where she faced Mila Saric from Florida State. After Biolay took the first set, Saric came back to win the match with a score of (6-3, 4-6, 1-0 [6-10]). She retired in her match against Florida State's Olympe Lancelot, bringing her tournament to a close.
