ORLANDO – A new era is set to begin this weekend for the UCF women’s tennis team, as it welcomes BYU and Texas Tech in the opening weekend of the Big 12 Conference season. Conference play will commence Thursday when the Knights face the Cougars at 6 p.m. at the USTA National Campus. Conference play continues Saturday at noon when the Red Raiders travel to Orlando.
LAST TIME OUT
The Knights found themselves back in the win column last Sunday, earning two big 4-0 sweeps over North Florida and Bethune-Cookman. Opening the doubleheader, the Knights won their first doubles point since January 28 with big wins from the doubles tandems on courts one and three. Anique Kattenberg and Noel Saidenova improved their win streak to four wins at the top doubles position with the 6-1 decision against the Ospreys. Stefani Webb also earned her first doubles win of the season with Sophia Biolay at court three with the 6-4 victory to secure the doubles point. No. 121 Biolay earned her first win as a ranked player with her strong win at court two. Saidenova earned two singles wins on the weekend to improve her record to a team-leading 5-2. She first secured a 6-2, 6-1 win at court four against North Florida before her first win at the second singles position against Bethune-Cookman, a 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Olivia Lincer earned both her first and second collegiate singles wins of her career Sunday. The freshman clinched the match against the Ospreys with a clutch 6-1, 6-2 win at court one for her first solo collegiate win. Against Bethune-Cookman, she only seemed to improve, with another big victory at court one (6-0, 6-1). Lincer has come points within victory numerous times this season, most notably against No. 20 Tennessee February 16, where her match went unfinished at 6-2, 6-5, and against No. 20 Georgia Tech on opening weekend, where she was five points within victory at 6-2, 5-5 when the match was clinched. You always remember your first win (especially when it’s the match clincher 😉) pic.twitter.com/tc1SGFpjf3
KNIGHTS IN THE POLLS
Biolay had a fantastic first weekend as a ranked player, earning a win in both singles and doubles to help the Knights blank the Ospreys. Maintaining her spot at the second singles position, the junior picked up her second-consecutive victory, this time with a dominant 6-0, 6-1 decision. The ranking of 121 remains the highest that an individual Knight has been ranked this season. In the latest computerized Intercollegiate Tennis Association team poll, the Knights remained at No. 59, with 7.47 points in the rankings.
NEW CONFERENCE, NEW US
Different from the years in the American Athletic Conference, UCF will play each Big 12 Conference women’s tennis team at least once in the regular season, deemed “conference play”. Each weekend of conference play will be played on the Friday and Sunday of the week, except against BYU, who play Thursdays and Saturdays. There will also be a regular season champion crowned, marked as the team with the best overall conference play record. For seeding for the Big 12 Tournament, conference records will be used to determine the seeds, not ITA rankings, as used by the AAC in previous years.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
BYU holds an 8-1 record nine matches into the season and most recently completed a weekend in California, where it played Cal Poly and Fresno State, swiftly defeating both teams 5-2. The Cougars currently tout a four-match win streak, dating back to February 10. Their lone loss comes from Utah on the road, where they fell 4-2 to the Utes. In the latest computerized ITA team rankings, BYU comes in at No. 45.
The squad features the 71st-ranked singles player in Bobo Huang, who is undefeated in singles this season (7-0), senior Kara Wheatley, who boasts a 6-1 record, and sophomore Tina Li, with a 6-2 record. BYU has not dropped a doubles point all season, thanks in part to the duo of Emilee Astle and Kendall Kocik, who is 4-0 at court one, and the tandem of Li and Wheatley, who holds strong at 6-0 on court three.
The last time the two teams faced off against each other was during the 2022 season. The Knights swept the Cougars in the March 17 contest, 4-0, and lead the all-time series 1-0 thanks to the win. Head coach Holly Parkinson Hasler is in her sixth season coaching the Cougars and holds a 66-48 record at the helm.
SCOUTING THE RED RAIDERS
Texas Tech holds a 7-4 record this season and is positioned at No. 26 in the most recent ITA team ranking. Prior to traveling to Orlando Saturday, the Red Raiders are slated to open their conference season with a match at Houston Thursday. The squad will wrap up a 12-match road stand with the match against the Knights. TTU recently competed in the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama, defeating both Furman, 4-0, and Wake Forest, 4-1, before falling to Alabama, 4-2, in the last match of the tournament.
No. 59 Cristina Tiglea and No. 7 Matka Komac and Avelina Sayfetdinova call Lubbock, Texas home. Tiglea boasts a 5-3 record in singles dual matches at the top spot for the Red Raiders, including a 3-3 record against ranked players. The duo of Komac and Sayfetdinova is undefeated in dual match play, with a 7-0 record at doubles position one.
Adam Herendeen is in his second season as the head coach of the Red Raiders, with a 21-15 record as the leader. He recorded five ranked wins in his first season and four conference wins to earn the fifth seed in the 2023 Big 12 Tournament. The meeting Saturday will mark the first all-time matchup between the squads.