ORLANDO – Following its fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, the UCF women’s tennis team has announced its 2024 spring dual-match schedule. The Knights’ inaugural spring season in the Big 12 Conference is highlighted by 11 home matches and matchups against each of the league’s 14 teams.
The 22-match lineup will feature 11 teams who participated in the NCAA Tournament, including two who advanced to the quarterfinal round. A combined 29 ranked singles players and 12 ranked doubles teams are on the spring opponents’ rosters, as released in the final fall rankings from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, as well as eight teams ranked in the top 25.
The spring season will kick off in January with a home doubleheader on the 20th against No. 20 Georgia Tech at 11 a.m. and Bethune Cookman at 4 p.m. This will be the second consecutive season that the Knights will play both the Yellow Jackets and the Wildcats. UCF will then head to Norman, Oklahoma, to take part in the ITA Kickoff. The Black and Gold will first take on No. 13 Oklahoma on the 26th before then playing either No. 32 Cal or No. 34 Illinois on the 27th.
February opens with a two-match road trip south to Miami. The squad will first travel to Florida International on Feb. 2, with the time for that match TBA. UCF will then take a short drive to Coral Gables, Florida, to take on No. 16 Miami Feb. 4 at noon. The Knights return home after an off week for the last of their non-conference matches. No. 14 Tennessee travels to the USTA National Campus for the first time since 2012 on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. That same weekend, UCF also hosts No. 22 Wisconsin on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 11 a.m. Rounding out the non-conference slate is in-state opponent Stetson, who UCF hosts on Feb. 23 at noon.
The Knights open conference play with back-to-back home matches against BYU and Texas Tech. UCF hosts the Cougars on Feb. 29 at 6 p.m. for the second-ever meeting between the two. The first-ever matchup between the Knights and the Red Raiders will take place on March 2 at noon.
The first conference road trip will take place the following weekend, where the Black and Gold travel to Texas for the first time since the 2021 season. The team will start off in Waco, Texas, taking on Baylor on March 8 at 6 p.m., before heading north to Fort Worth, Texas, to face TCU on March 10 at 1 p.m. The Knights went head-to-head with the Horned Frogs during the 2023 season, coming out on top with a 4-0 victory at home, but this will be the first time that the two teams play as conference opponents.
The penultimate homestand features two teams that know the USTA National Campus well. UCF will host No. 13 Oklahoma on March 15 at 6 p.m. before hosting No. 7 Texas for a Sunday matinee on March 17 at noon. The Knights last saw both teams during the 2022 season at home. Oklahoma was ranked No. 2 when it last ventured to Orlando and Texas was ranked No. 5 at the time.
Two familiar conference opponents and a new face await the Knights on their last road trip of March. The squad will travel to Ohio to take on former AAC mate Cincinnati on March 22 at 1 p.m. before pivoting to Morgantown, West Virginia, for a match against the Mountaineers on March 24 at noon. The final match of March takes place back in Texas on the 30th, with the Knights taking on Houston at 2 p.m.
The final home stand of 2024 brings Kansas State and No. 19 Oklahoma State to the USTA National Campus on April 5 and 7, respectively. The first-ever head-to-head against the Wildcats will have a first serve time of 6 p.m. Oklahoma State, whose squad features the second-ranked singles player and sixth-ranked doubles tandem, will travel to Orlando for the first time since 2021 on the 7th, with the start time for the tilt set for noon.
The last regular-season road trip will see the Knights travel to No. 8 Iowa State on April 12 at 4 p.m. and No. 23 Kansas on April 14 at noon. The Cyclones had a historic 2023 spring season, advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
The Big 12 Championship will be hosted by Oklahoma State from April 17th to April 21st in Stillwater, Okla.
*All times listed in ET