The No. 73 ranked UCF Knights men's tennis team (3-7) travels out west for two weekend matchups against No. 30 Oklahoma State and SMU. The Knights will face off against the Cowboys on Friday at 6 p.m. ET, followed by a Sunday match with the Mustangs at 3 p.m. ET.
STATE OF THE KNIGHTS
The Knights started off their three-match road trip with a victory against No. 63 FAU, 5-2. UCF dominated the singles competition, as they took five out of the six matchups. No. 105 Bogdan Pavel improved his singles record to 5-2 after defeating Kevin Huempfner, 6-2, 7-5. Yassine Dlimi continued his hot streak by defeating Filip Krolo, 6-1, 6-3. Dlimi (3-3), a freshman from Casablanca, Morocco, has now won three straight matches and is now .500 for the first time in his college career. Another freshman, Francisco Llanes (2-2), also broke .500, with a hard-fought win over FAU's Hunter Robbins, 7-5, 0-6, 6-1. Lleyton Cronje and Liam Branger also picked up solo victories for UCF.
In doubles competition, No. 76 Bogdan Pavel and Lleyton Cronje look to regain momentum. The duo dropped their previous two matchups against FSU and FAU, but are still 3-3 on the season. Mehdi Benchakroun and Francisco Llanes (1-2) are looking for their second win as a duo after their two previous matchups went unfinished.
THE OPPONENTS
No. 30 Oklahoma State enters Friday's matchup with an impressive 10-3 record. The Cowboys have won five of their previous six matchups, including a win against No. 29 Middle Tennessee. Their lone loss was also against ranked competition, as they fell to No. 21 Cornell. In their previous matchup, OSU survived a 4-3 thriller against SMU.
The Cowboys are led by No. 108 Isaac Becroft. In his previous matchup, Becroft dropped his singles matchup to SMU's Pranav Kumar, 2-6, 7-6 (5-7). In doubles action, Becroft and Alessio Basile took care of business, defeating SMU's Liam Krall and Antonio Muniz Hidalg, 6-0. Junior Alex Garcia was named Big 12 Player of the Week after posting a 2-0 singles record, and 1-1 doubles record.
The Knights and Cowboys are 2-2 in the all-time series. In their last matchup, the Knights left Stillwater with a 4-2 victory, increasing their win streak to two games against OSU. This year, the Knights look to become the first team to defeat OSU at home, as the Cowboys are 8-0 in Stillwater.
SMU is 7-7 entering the week. The Mustangs have been struggling recently, as they have lost four of their last five matchups. Their one victory in this span was a 4-1 victory over No. 54 Old Dominion. In their last match, SMU lost to No. 37 San Diego, 4-1.
The Mustangs are led by Louis Cloud, who has a 15-7 singles record. Pranav Kumar has eight wins this year, while Adam Neff and Alex Stafford each have seven victories. In doubles competition, the duo of Liam Krall and Antonio Muniz Hidalg lead the way with a 7-3 record. Kumar and Neff also have seven doubles wins, while Julian Steinhausen and Jack Winkler have five.
The Knights are 2-6 in previous matchups against SMU. UCF lost last year in Orlando 4-3 but won their previous two matchups against the Mustangs.
