The UCF men's tennis team returns to the USTA National Campus for two weekend matchups against North Florida and No. 15 Florida State. The Knights will face off against the Ospreys in a Friday matchup at 2 p.m., followed by a Saturday meeting with the Seminoles at 3 p.m.
STATE OF THE KNIGHTS
The Knights look to break a five-match skid this weekend. Bogdan Pavel currently leads the Knights with a 4-0 singles record, the best start to his collegiate career. In last Friday's matchup against Miami, the Romanian claimed the first set, 6-4, against No. 21 Dan Martin, before the Hurricanes clinched the match. Pavel and Leyton Cronje, who are 2-1 on the year, are No. 48 in the ITA doubles ranking. The senior duo won their previous matchup against Miami, 6-3. Pavel, who enters the weekend with 62 career doubles victories, needs two more to tie Gabriel Decamps for the most in UCF history.
Cronje is looking for another singles win. His last win came against Pol de Castillo and Georgia Southern, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Mehdi Benchakroun enters this weekend 2-3 on the year in singles competition. His last matchup went unfinished; however, he took the first set, 6-2, and was in a commanding lead in the second, 4-2. Benchakroun also has a doubles victory with Colin Paul.
Liam Branger and Luca Hotze each enter this weekend with a 1-2 record in singles competition. Branger picked up the win against Oliver Okonkwo of Illinois, 0-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Hotze defeated Georgia Southern's Alexandros Roumpis, 7-5, 6-4.
THE OPPONENTS
UNF enters the Friday matchup with a 3-1 record. The Ospreys are on a two-game win streak, following their 5-2 victory over Air Force. UNF's lone loss of the year came against Miami on February 10th. Rodrigo Crespo leads UNF with a 12-6 singles record, while having a combined 7-7 doubles record. UCF won last year's matchup 4-1, and have an all-time record of 9-5 against the Ospreys.
No. 15 Florida State looks to regain momentum after losing three of their past four matchups. The Seminoles (6-3) fell to No. 24 Mississippi State in their previous outing. FSU has a total of three players ranked in the ITA's Top 125 Singles Rankings; No. 3 Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, No. 38 Youcef Rihane, and No. 71 Jamie Connel. Cornut-Chauvinc leads FSU with a 21-3 singles record dating back to the fall and hasn't lost a singles matchup since last year. UCF and FSU each have three wins in the all-time rankings. FSU took last year's matchup, 4-3.
