ORLANDO – The No. 49 UCF men's tennis team (9-11) returns to USTA for the final regular season match against Tulsa. Bogdan Pavel will be honored 15 minutes before the noon start time in the senior day ceremony.
STATE OF THE KNIGHTS
The Knights are playing some of their best tennis as they enter the season finale on a three-match winning streak. Midweek, UCF made the trip north to Birmingham as they defeated UAB, 4-2, on Wednesday. Yassine Dlimi won convincingly on court three yet against as the Freshman standout has now gone eight matches without suffering defeat. In the span, the Moroccan has won six as he's truly found momentum heading into the conference tournament. Similar to the Knights War on I-4 victory a week ago, Liam Branger clinched the match for the Knights on court four as he defeated Georgios Nouchakis , 7-5, 7-5.
The doubles point has been key for the Black and Gold as with their good run of play, the squad has found the consistency to start the match. The 33rd-ranked duo of Pavel and Lleyton Cronje continue to lead the squad on court one as they've had yet another solid campaign. Since Dlimi started playing with Toto Llanes in early March, the tandem has begun to progress with their results as their convincing 6-2 victory in Birmingham was arguably their best of the season thus far. For the Knights, this match is crucial for both their position heading into the conference tournament and a for a bid into the NCAA tournament.
THE OPPONENTS
This will be the second meeting between the two squads as they met during the ITA Kickoff Weekend at Ohio State earlier in the season. Before the 4-1 loss in Columbus, the Knights had gone undefeated in their previous six. Tulsa is currently ranked 56th in the nation and sit at 11-11. The Golden Hurricane's last time out saw them defeat USF by the same margins, 4-3. The win extends their winning streak to four matches, which includes an impressive 4-1 win over No. 38 Oklahoma State, 4-1.
Tulsa is led by the 51st-ranked player in the nation, Cody Pearson, who leads the squad on court one at 11-5. Ezequiel Santalla has seen matches at courts three through six as the senior is currently 10-8. Adam Gaber and Timothy Seger are both 7-2 on the back three courts. The duo of Kody Pearson and Connor Di Marco are 9-9 on court one as they'll be the likely opponents of Pavel and Cronje.