ORLANDO – The No. 23 UCF women's tennis team (1-0) started its spring dual match season off with a win over Stetson (2-1) on Saturday afternoon at the USTA National Campus. The Knights took the doubles point and three of the singles points to claim the match, 4-3.
In the doubles segment of the match, Marie Mattel and Noel Saidenova ran off with court one, defeating Stetson's Cheri Darley and Alanna DiFrancesco handily by a score of 6-0. The doubles success continued on court three with Nandini Sharma and Sophia Biolay clinching the doubles point shortly after with a 6-1 win against Anais Gabriel and Noa Cohen. The teams decided to continue playing the doubles match on court two where Jaleesa Leslie and Jantje Tilbuerger were topped by Magda Hedrzak and Laetitia Risk, 6-4.
The Knights' captains took control of their singles matches to quickly put the squad up 3-0. No. 47 Mattel faced off against Darley on court one and continued her stellar play, winning the first singles match of the day 6-2, 6-1. On court six, No. 110 Sharma took care of business against Risk, easily defeating her 6-0, 6-3 just moments after Mattel's victory.
Stetson bounced back after that to take courts three and four. Saidenova came up short in her match against Gabriel, dropping the match 6-1, 6-4. Cohen secured another point for the Hatters, defeating UCF's Leslie 6-4, 6-4.
It then came down to courts two and five to determine the winner. On court five, Biolay was able to seal the deal for the Knights after a match full of long rallies, clinching the final point on a 1:12 minute volley to take down Hedrzak 6-3, 7-5.
On court two, Tilbuerger and DiFrancesco played a tight match, needing to go to tiebreakers twice. The Hatter narrowly took the first set 7-6 (8-6). Tilbuerger came back strong in the second set, winning it with a score of 6-3. Since the match had already been clinched, a super tiebreak was used to determine the winner of the match, which DiFrancesco took 10-7 to earn one final point for Stetson.
#23 UCF 4, Stetson 3
Singles competition
1. #47 Marie Mattel (UCF) def. Cheri Darley (STET) 6-2, 6-1
2. A. DiFrancesco (STET) def. Jantje Tilbuerger (UCF) 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)
3. Anais Gabriel (STET) def. Noel Saidenova (UCF) 6-1, 6-4
4. Noa Cohen (STET) def. Jaleesa Leslie (UCF) 6-4, 6-4
5. Sophia Biolay (UCF) def. Magda Hedrzak (STET) 6-3, 7-5
6. Nandini Sharma (UCF) def. Laetitia Rizk (STET) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Marie Mattel/Noel Saidenova (UCF) def. Cheri Darley/A. DiFrancesco (STET) 6-0
2. Anais Gabriel/Noa Cohen (STET) def. Nandini Sharma/Sophia Biolay (UCF) 6-4
3. Jaleesa Leslie/Jantje Tilbuerger (UCF) def. Magda Hedrzak/Tess Menten (STET) 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,6,3,4,5,2)
UP NEXT
The Knights will return to action in their first road trip of the season, as they head to Auburn for ITA Kickoff Weekend. The squad will play No. 9 Arizona State on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. ET. They will then play either No. 15 Auburn or UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, Jan. 29. The start time of the match is TBA.
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