Men's Tennis Set for Road Swing at Wichita State and TulsaMen's Tennis Set for Road Swing at Wichita State and Tulsa

Men's Tennis Set for Road Swing at Wichita State and Tulsa

by Alex Clough

ORLANDO – A final road swing awaits the UCF men’s tennis team before its final non-conference contest of the season, as the squad travels to Wichita State and Tulsa for two afternoon matchups with former conference foes.

The Knights (11-1) and Shockers (3-9) will face off in Kansas at 2 p.m. CT / 3 p.m. ET on Friday at the Genesis Road Tennis Center before UCF concludes the week with a 10:30 a.m. CT / 11:30 a.m. ET against the Golden Hurricane (4-8) at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

Three matches remain in what has been a remarkable non-conference slate under first-year head coach Lloyd Bruce-Burgess. UCF has jumped out to a remarkable 11-1 record, the best start to any campaign in program history since 1980 when Henry Brandon led the Knights to a 13-2 start nearly 24 years ago.

On the back of a three-match homestand sweep against South Florida, Penn and South Alabama, the Knights continue to take care of business in singles action. During the five days, UCF went 10-0 and to amass two sweeps and a 4-1 triumph over the Jaguars on Tuesday.

Knight Notables

  • Eight Knights have combined for an .818 win percentage across 12 contests. UCF has taken 65 percent of courts in singles out of a possible 72 and has lost just 13 percent of singles contests.
  • Apart from a three-match stretch against Miami, Florida, and UAB, in which the Knights went 2-1 and went 9-9 in singles, the Black and Gold have dropped just one court through eight matches, attaining a 38-1 record.
  • Seven of eight Knights who have played (Emilio Sanchez is 1-0) have won five or more matches and each has a win percentage of .667 or better.
  • Lleyton Cronje and Santiago Giamichelle lead the Knights with eight wins each, as the former has been brilliant since shifting to court three, holding a 3-0 record across three appearances.
  • The Knights have dropped just one match on courts one, four, and six, holding a 26-3 record across the three courts.
  • Yassine Dlimi is currently riding a nine-match unbeaten streak and sits just one win/unfinished contest away from tying his 10-match stretch from 2023.

The Opponents

The Shockers have struggled to find their groove through non-conference play as they’ve yet to win back-to-back matches. Against Big 12 opposition, Wichita State was swept by Oklahoma (7-0) and Oklahoma State (7-0) following a 5-2 loss at Texas Tech in January.

While members of the American Athletic Conference, the Knights were 4-0 against the Shockers including a 4-0 sweep in the semifinals of the 2021 AAC Championship en route to an eventual conference title. In 2023, Cronje, Dlimi, Mehdi Benchakroun and Francisco Llanes each took care of business in singles to secure a 6-1 triumph in the finals conference contest between the teams.

A decade ago, Bruce-Burgess served as a volunteer assistant coach for Wichita State, assisting in the Shockers 18-9 record through the 2014 campaign.

The second of two weekend bouts will see UCF and Tulsa reunite for the first time in non-conference play since 1978. Both were members of Conference USA from 2005-2014 before journeying to the AAC together in the 2014-15 season.

UCF was 6-4 against the Golden Hurricane in The American and split two meetings in 2023. On senior day, the Knights concluded the regular season with a 4-2 victory over Tulsa as Dlimi and Liam Branger each aided in the triumph.

Holding a 4-8 record thus far, Tulsa has challenged itself with a difficult non-conference schedule, including losses against four Big 12 members (TCU, Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas Tech). Currently ranked 67th in the nation, the Golden Hurricane’s tandem of Pierce Rollins and Timothy Carlsson Seger are the No. 55 doubles pairing in the nation.

 

Social