ORLANDO – The No. 19 UCF women's tennis team (4-1) is back on the road this weekend with two ranked matchups. The Knights will face No. 15 Vanderbilt on Friday, Feb. 17, at 4 p.m. at the Lummis Family Tennis Center. On Sunday, the Black and Gold will travel to No. 24 Tennessee with the first serve for that match at noon in Barksdale Stadium.
LAST TIME OUT
The Knights improved their win streak to three with a confident 4-2 victory over FIU on Tuesday night. The tandems of Marie Mattel and Noel Saidenova, and Nandini Sharma and Sophia Biolay came up huge in securing the doubles point for the first time since the home opener against Stetson. No. 48 Mattel wrapped up her singles court in two sets to put the Knights up 2-0. Stefani Webb earned her first collegiate singles victory on court three and Sharma continued to fight to give the Black and Gold the win.
SENIOR STAPLES
The senior captains of the squad have proven to be strong leaders both on and off the courts. Sharma has been dominating on court six, going 4-1 in singles in the spring campaign, with her only loss against No. 15 Auburn. Partnered with Biolay for doubles, the duo is 2-2 on the season, securing the court needed to win the doubles point against FIU. Mattel has continued to command the number one singles spot, going 3-1 and earning a ranked win against the No. 69 singles player from Arizona State. The tandem of Mattel and Noel Saidenova has also been huge in the doubles point, going 2-2 from court one.
KNIGHTS IN THE POLLS
The Knights continue to climb the ITA Rankings, shifting up to No. 19. The strong victory over LSU helped prove to the voters that the squad deserved to move up two spots to the highest ranking of the spring season. Mattel remained ranked in the latest ITA Singles rankings, after earning a ranked win over the 54th-ranked singles player during ITA Kickoff Weekend. She is the lone Knight to be ranked in singles, coming in at No. 48, and to earn an American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week honor. The duo of Mattel and Biolay also kept a position in the ITA Doubles rankings, shifting down to No. 34.
THE FIELD
After a hot 4-0 start to the season, highlighted by a championship at the ITA Kickoff Weekend, No. 15 Vanderbilt is currently on a three-match losing streak, dropping six spots in the latest ITA rankings. In all three matches at the National Team Indoors this past week, the Commodores lost 4-3 to Iowa State, Washington, and Stanford to bring their time at the tournament to an end. Vanderbilt has four players ranked in the singles polls, No. 27 Bridget Stammel, No. 34 Celia-Belle Mohr, No. 66 Anna Ross, and No. 85 Holly Staff. This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
No. 24 Tennessee is 4-2 for the dual match season with both of their losses coming from ranked opponents in No. 10 NC State and No. 12 Ohio State. The Volunteers advanced to the championship match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend after sweeping Wake Forest 4-0, but fell short against Ohio State, 4-2. The Lady Vols then defeated Western Carolina twice, playing them in back-to-back matches on Feb. 1. NC State proved to be a challenge for them, only winning one singles court in their matchup in a 6-1 loss. The Lady Vols feature three ranked singles players: No. 24 Rebeka Mertena, No. 38 Daria Kuczer, and No. 65 Elza Tomase. Kuzcer earned Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honors last week, after a perfect week in singles and three doubles victories. This will be the third all-time meeting between the teams, with Tennessee taking each prior match.
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