ORLANDO – Fresh off its first Big 12 Conference weekend sweep, the UCF women’s tennis team will look to close out its penultimate roadtrip in the win column, traveling to Houston, Texas. The Saturday match against the Cougars is slated for a 2 p.m. ET first serve time at the Barbara Wallace Winston Tennis Facility.
LAST TIME OUT
The squad continued to find its groove on the road, defeating Cincinnati and West Virginia last weekend. Both of the clinching points came from none other than Noel Saidenova, who has clinched four of six wins for the team. The straight-set wins were earned at the top singles position, a spot that Saidenova had not yet featured at this season. The 6-3, 6-3 win against Cincinnati’s top singles player clinched the first Big 12 match sweep for the Knights. Olivia Lincer also recorded a win against Cincinnati, shifting to the No. 2 spot and earning a 6-3, 6-1 win for her first win of March.
Jantje Tilbuerger moved to a perfect 5-0 during the month of March with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win at the third singles position against West Virginia. The nailbiting first set made way for a battle in the second, but the sophomore prevailed to extend her unbeaten streak to eight matches.
The Knights also shined during doubles play on the road, taking both of the doubles points. The top two pairings of Saidenova and Anique Kattenberg, and Tilbuerger and Sophia Biolay came through clutch each match, swiftly defeating their opponents to gain an early lead. In Tilbuerger and Biolay’s first win as a pairing, they blanked their Bearcats opponents at court two, 6-0.
KNIGHTS IN THE POLLS
Boasting a 9-3 record in singles play, Biolay remains ranked in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles polls at No. 119. The junior was perfect over the weekend, winning at court two against West Virginia in straight sets. She went unfinished against Cincinnati, leading 6-1, 3-6, 3-1 when the match was clinched. With the weekend sweep over Cincinnati and West Virginia, the Knights jumped to No. 55 in the ITA team poll.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
Houston is 2-13 on the season and winless in Big 12 conference play. Thursday evening, the Cougars earned their first win since opening weekend with a 7-0 sweep over Prairie View A&M. Their other win on the season comes from a 4-3 battle against Louisiana at home in January to open the season.
Helena Besovic has been at the helm in Houston since July 2018 and has a 68-53 record as a head coach with the Cougars. She coached two student-athletes to All-Conference awards in the American Athletic Conference before shifting to the Big 12.
The teams last met in the 2023 AAC Championship quarterfinals, where the Knights swept the Cougars 4-0 to send them to the Championship finals. The sweep saw Kattenberg earn her fourth-consecutive victory of the season at the sixth singles position with the straight-set clinching win. UCF holds the all-time series, 4-2, over Houston.