ORLANDO – The No. 21 UCF women's tennis team (2-1) is set to return home this Sunday, Feb. 5th, when it will host LSU (4-0). The Knights will face off against the Tigers at 3 p.m. at the USTA National Campus. A live video stream of the courts will be available by clicking here.
Admission to the match is free.
The Black and Gold moved up two spots in the latest ITA rankings after upsetting No. 19 Arizona State 4-2 during the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Marie Mattel is the highest-ranked Knight in the singles polls at No. 47, followed by Nandini Sharma coming in at No. 110. The duo of Mattel and Sophia Biolay is ranked No. 29 in the ITA Doubles Ranking.
The Knights had a hot start to their spring season, defeating Stetson 4-3 on opening day and then taking down No. 19 Arizona State on day one of the ITA Kickoff Weekend to advance to the championship match, where they fell to No. 15 Auburn 4-1. Mattel picked up a ranked win over the 69th-ranked singles player, 6-2, 7-5, in the match against the Sun Devils and went unfinished in her match against No. 43 Ariana Arseneault 7-6 (7), 3-4, earning her the Knights' first AAC Player of the Week honor of the season.
This will be the second all-time meeting between the teams, with UCF taking the last match 4-1 on Feb. 18, 2022.
THE FIELD
The Tigers
LSU has had a strong opening to its dual match season, taking down every opponent it has faced thus far. Most recently, it defeated Penn State 5-2 on Sunday, Jan. 29, taking the doubles point and four of the singles courts. The Tigers also took down Harvard 5-2 the day before, earning the doubles point and four singles points as well.
Two Tigers have been ranked in the ITA singles polls, with newcomer Kylie Collins coming in at No. 7 and Anastasiya Komar at No. 32. The doubles tandem of Komar and Nikita Vishwase also found a home in the ITA doubles poll, ranked as the No. 7 duo in the country.
This will be the first road test for the Tigers, with all four of their previous matches being at home.
FOLLOW THE KNIGHTS
Follow UCF Women's Tennis on social media on Facebook (/UCF.WTennis), Twitter (UCF_WTennis) and Instagram (UCFWTennis).
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news. Click here to download the app now.
