ORLANDO, Fla. - The No. 23 UCF women's tennis team fell to No. 30 Miami Saturday afternoon at the USTA National Campus. The Knights fell short in doubles and were unable to recover quick enough during singles play.
The Black and Gold went down early on court two, as Sophia Biolay and Marie Mattel fell to Miami's Alexa Noel and Isabella Pfenning, by a score of 2-6. After being down 1-3 early in the match, the doubles tandem of Noel Saidenova and Jantje Tilbuerger battled back and took five games in a row, winning court one 6-3.
Now tied 1-1 in the doubles point, it all came down to Nandini Sharma and Stefani Webb on court three, who fell to Audrey Boch-Collins and Mia Mack in a hard-fought battle, 4-6. Unable to claim the doubles point, the Knights were down 0-1 going into singles play for the second match in a row.
During singles play, the first decision came from court one where No. 23 Mattel fell to No. 8 Noel, 2-6, 1-6. A similar decision came on court three, where Tilbuerger dropped to Pfenning, 4-6, 1-6. On court six, No. 125 Sharma fell short to Miami's Maya Tahan, by a score of 7-5, 1-6, 3-6. The match on court six clinched the victory for Miami, leaving all remaining courts unfinished.
On court two, freshman Webb fell short to Daevenia Achong 2-6 in the first set, but came back strong in the second to win 6-3, forcing a third. The third set was a back-and-forth battle that Webb refused to give up on. Webb saved four match points in the fight against Achong, to tie the third set up at 5-5. The match went unfinished after the Hurricanes clinched on court six.
UP NEXT
The Knights continue their home stand this Wednesday, Mar. 8. The squad will take on No. 41 Penn State for their sixth-straight ranked opponent. The match will kick off at 5 p.m. at the USTA National Campus.
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