The No. 57 ranked UCF men's tennis team (6-11) will face off this week against No. 39 Tulane and No. 53 South Florida. The Knights will be home against the Green Wave for a 4 p.m. matchup at the UTSA National Campus on Wednesday, and will travel to Tampa to battle the Bulls on Friday at 2 p.m.
STATE OF THE KNIGHTS
The Knights lost their first conference matchup against No. 35 Memphis this past Sunday. Although they were unable to pick up the doubles point, No. 26 ranked Bogdan Pavel and Lleyton Cronje picked up another doubles victory, improving their record to 8-5. The dynamic duo now have back-to-back victories, and have won five of their last six matchups. In singles competition, the matchup between No. 98 Pavel and No. 68 Pablo Alemany went unfinished, while Cronje won his singles matchup against David Stevenson, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. Cronje now has five singles victories this season.
Although his last match went unfinished, Yassine Dlimi looks to continue his winning ways. The Freshman has won his three previous finished matches, including a win over Texas's No. 84 Micah Braswell. Liam Branger, who is ranked No. 115, will look to get back on track after a hard-fought defeat last week to Memphis's Conor Gannon.
THE OPPONENTS
No. 39 Tulane arrives in Orlando with a 12-8 record. The Green Wave are 4-3 in their last seven matchups, and have pieced together two victories in a row, after alternating between wins and losses during this stretch. In their last matchup, Tulane defeated USF, 4-1. The Green Wave are led by Rafael de Alba, who leads the squad with a 13-3 record. Tulane also features Alex Bancila (10-5) and No. 122 Fynn Kuenkler (5-9). In doubles competition, Charlie Barry and Benji Jacobson lead the way with a 6-5 record. UCF leads Tulane in the all-time series 6-5 and has won their three previous matchups against the Green Wave. In last year's matchup, the Knights took care of business in New Orleans, defeating Tulane 6-1.
No. 53 South Florida
Despite losing their last matchup against Tulane, the Bulls (12-10) have won six of their last seven matchups. South Florida features No. 118 Davide Tortora, who has a 7-6 record on the year. Other notable players include Elijah Cham and Chase Ferguson, who also have seven wins this year. In doubles competition, Alvin Tudorica leads the team with a combined 21 doubles wins, while Bruno Oliveria has 16 wins on the year. In head-to-head matchups, the Bulls lead the Knights, 15-9. Last year, the Knights fell to the Bulls in quarterfinals of the 2022 AAC Championships, 3-4.
