CARY, N.C. – The UCF women’s tennis team wrapped up its first collegiate tournament of the fall slate, the 2023 Fall Ranked Spotlight, highlighted by a trip to the west semifinals for junior Noel Saidenova. Saidenova and Grace Levelston took part in both the singles and doubles portion of the tournament, while Anique Kattenberg participated in singles.
Saidenova faced a difficult first match in the singles A-2 draw, going head-to-head with Gina Dittmann from NC State. Dittmann came out on top (6-3, 6-4), sending the Knight to the west side of the compass draw. Saidenova bounced back quickly after that loss, taking the first set 7-6(2) over Rachel Hanford of Arizona State. The senior retaliated (3-6) to send the match to a super tiebreak, which Saidenova won with astounding margins to advance to the second round of the west [7-6(2), 3-6, 10-2]. The Saint-Petersburg, Russia, native then faced Piper Charney from Michigan in the quarterfinals. Saidenova swiftly defeated the blue-chip recruit in two sets, 6-2, 6-3, elevating her to the semifinals. Her west bracket run came to an end here, falling to Duke’s Karolina Berankova in a tight three-set showdown, 1-6, 7-5, 10-7. Shifting to the west-southwest draw for her final match of the weekend, Saidenova dropped to Marianna Arygyrokastriti from Arizona State, 6-0, 3-6, 10-7.
In her first collegiate tournament, Levelston was paired with No. 5-8 Shahar Biran from South Carolina for her opening match of the A-2 draw. The redshirt freshman battled hard but fell 6-2, 6-2 to the No. 106 singles player in the country. Levelston faced tough competition through the rest of her weekend, putting up good fights, but ultimately fell in the remaining matches.
Kattenberg was the lone UCF player in the round-robin draw, facing off against players from NC State, Arizona State, South Carolina and Miami. She fought hard but was unable to pick up a match win through the weekend.
UP NEXT
Members of the women’s tennis team will travel to Hilton Head, S.C. to take part in the W15 Hilton Head event, the first professional tournament of the fall season. They will then head to Tampa, Fla. to compete in the Bedford Cup for the first time in three years from Sept. 29 – Oct. 1