ORLANDO – The No. 38 UCF women's tennis team is set to face off against Houston in the AAC Women's Tennis Championship on Thursday at noon. The Knights earned a bye to the quarterfinals, taking place at the USTA National Campus, after being seeded second in the tournament.
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
The Knights (9-10) had their two-match win streak broken on senior day, with a heartbreaking 4-2 loss to No. 47 SMU. Despite the result, there were high moments throughout the match. Sophomore Anique Kattenberg continued to excel on court six, winning her third-straight match to strengthen her singles record to 4-1 this season. Partnering with Jaleesa Leslie on court three, Kattenberg earned a strong 6-1 victory in doubles to improve her record to 2-2. Sophia Biolay also improved her singles win streak to two with a dominating straight-set victory (7-5, 6-1).
KNIGHTS IN THE POLLS
Marie Mattel shifted to No. 38 in the latest ITA singles rankings after dropping her match against the 123rd-ranked singles player from SMU on Sunday. Nandini Sharma and Stefani Webb remained ranked in the doubles poll, rising to No. 71.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Knights entered the championship as the No. 1 seed last year after ending the regular season as the highest-ranked team in the conference, earning a bye into the quarterfinals. The squad fell to South Florida in a close 4-3 decision to end its tournament run in the quarterfinals.
UCF looks to win its eighth overall conference championship and its third American title. The Knights won their first AAC title in 2019 after sweeping Memphis, Tulsa, and South Florida. There was not a tournament in 2020 due to the pandemic, but UCF came back in 2021 to repeat as champions.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
The seventh-seeded Houston enters the tournament on a two-match win streak, collecting wins over No. 56 Rice and North Texas last week. The squad went 1-4 when playing against ranked opponents, with the only win being the 4-2 result against Rice. The Cougars are led by freshman Gabriela Cortes, who has been dominating the back courts in her first season with the team. Cortes started the season at singles position six but has since made her way up to court four, going 10-2 in singles.
The Knights lead the all-time series against the Cougars 4-3. UCF also took the last meeting between the two, a 4-0 sweep in the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship in 2021.
