Men's Tennis Welcomes Oklahoma State and No. 22 Oklahoma for First Big 12 HomestandMen's Tennis Welcomes Oklahoma State and No. 22 Oklahoma for First Big 12 Homestand

Men's Tennis Welcomes Oklahoma State and No. 22 Oklahoma for First Big 12 Homestand

by Alex Clough

ORLANDO –  Big 12 tennis will arrive for good in Orlando this weekend, as the UCF men’s tennis team begins its inaugural homestand in the conference. The Knights will welcome No. 26 Oklahoma State on Thursday at 7 p.m., before capping the slate off with No. 22 Oklahoma on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Fresh from their first win in the Big 12 in a convincing sweep at Baylor last Sunday, the Knights will return to the USTA National Campus for a pair of highly-anticipated meetings. The Collegiate Tennis Center has served as a fortress for UCF through 2024 as the squad remains perfect through nine contests.

Head coach Lloyd Bruce-Burgess has transformed this team throughout his first season at the helm. After achieving the first 14-1 start in program history, the Knights took down the Big 12’s most decorated program in convincing fashion in Waco, Texas, to secure their first triumph in the conference.

Led by the sixth doubles point in nine matches, the momentum proved to be long-lasting, as the Knights took the first set on all six courts in singles play. It would eventually be the back three that took care of business with swift wins courtesy of Liam Branger, Santiago Giamichelle and Mehdi Benchakroun.

The triumph propelled the Knights to a season-high ranking as they checked in at No. 29 in the latest ITA release. Six of the eighth teams in the conference each featured among the top 30, including No. 3 TCU and No. 4 Texas who remain in the top 10.

Knight Notables

  • The weekend slate will mark the fourth consecutive season the Knights are set to host two ranked teams in back-to-back contests. In 2023, UCF welcomed No. 4 Ohio State and No. 2 Texas to Orlando, as the USTA National Campus continues to play host to the best matchups in collegiate tennis.
  • Baylor marked the 10th match the Knights have gone unbeaten in singles, leading to the sixth sweep of the season. The last time UCF swept a top-30 opponent came in 2021 when it defeated No. 29 South Florida, No. 27 Memphis and No. 24 Oklahoma.
  • Lleyton Cronje and Branger have won six of nine and continue to be a force on court two. When the tandem win, the Knights are 5-2, aiding to the recent good form early in the match.
  • Benchakroun’s clinching effort versus the Bears last weekend continued his lead atop the charts, as the sophomore leads the Knights with 11 wins, surpassing his tally from a year ago.
  • UCF hasn’t lost court four and five in singles in over a month and holds a combined 23-6 record on the courts.

The Opponents

The Cowboys (15-4) have been among the top teams in the conference through 2024 and took their debut conference contests on the road at BYU (4-2) and Texas Tech (4-1). Oklahoma State has multiple prolonged winning streaks as its four losses have come in a pair of back-to-back defeats to break up its form.

The Cowboys, currently placed at No. 26, have appeared in the top 30 for the fifth week. Tyler Zink, who leads the squad on court one in singles, ranks 18th in the nation. No. 70 Isaac Becroft and No. 77 Alex Garcia round out the Oklahoma State presence in the singles rankings, as Zink and Becroft checked in at No. 35 in the doubles portion.

Both programs have met five times since their first meeting in 2010. The Knights made the trip to Stillwater in 2023 on the back of back-to-back wins over Oklahoma State in 2021 and 2019.

UCF will conclude the first of two weekends at home with Oklahoma (14-2), as the Sooners attained similar wins at Texas Tech (7-0) and BYU (4-2) to open their conference play. The squad has won seven consecutive matches as their lone defeats came against No. 22 Florida State (5-2) and No. 6 Tennessee (4-1).

Oklahoma remained in the top 25 as they checked in at No. 22 in the latest ITA rankings. Alex Martinez leads the way in 20th for Oklahoma’s singles display, followed by No. 107 Khololwam Montsi. The tandem also makes up the lone doubles pairing as they sit at 63rd in the nation in doubles.

The last meeting between the teams came in the aforementioned UCF sweep against the Sooners in 2021, marking the first since an Oklahoma triumph in 1989. The two programs will again face off for the first and last time as conference foes Saturday evening.

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