ORLANDO – The potent duo of Lleyton Cronje and Bogdan Pavel represented the UCF men's tennis team on ITA Collegiate's final national ranking of the year, landing at 28 following a strong finish to their 2022 campaign.
UCF's premier tandem began the fall season at no. 24 after they played their way onto the America Athletic Conference All-Conference Doubles Team with a triumphant spring season. Pavel, who notched his third All-Conference honor with the inclusion, has been a consistent threat in both doubles and singles since joining the Knights from Romania in 2018.
Beginning competition with Cronje earlier this year, they've consistently secured the program with a plethora of doubles victories. Their fall stretch was capped off with a trophy at the University of Florida Invitational in Gainesville, Florida earlier this month. They beat a host Gators doublet to secure one last result before shifting focus to spring.
The rank is a career-best for Cronje with the program after transferring from Virginia-Commonwealth at the tail end of 2021. The Knights will kick off 2023 with a trip to Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 28-29 for a matchup with Ohio State before meeting either Tulsa or Oregon the next day.
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