ORLANDO – The UCF women’s tennis team looks to earn its first Big 12 Conference win on the road this weekend in Texas, as it travels to Waco Friday to take on Baylor and Fort Worth Sunday to play TCU. First serve is set for 7 p.m. ET against Baylor and 1 p.m. ET versus TCU.
For the first time this season, the matches will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with the crosscourt cast produced by Cracked Racquets.
LAST TIME OUT
The Knights had a tough start to Big 12 Conference play, dropping a pair of ranked matches to No. 37 BYU and No. 24 Texas Tech. In both matches, the doubles point came down to a tiebreaker, with UCF falling in both. Despite going down in the doubles point, the squad found a bit of momentum in singles, winning two points in each match.
In the conference opener against BYU, Sophia Biolay picked up the first singles win for the Knights at court two with a 6-2, 6-4 victory. Noel Saidenova earned the second point for UCF at singles position four, a 6-0, 7-5 win that marked her fourth-consecutive singles win.
Versus Texas Tech, Biolay recorded her fourth-straight win at singles court two with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 decision, giving the Knights their first point for the second match in a row. Jantje Tilbuerger earned her second win of the season against Texas Tech with a 6-0, 6-4 victory at court four.
KNIGHTS IN THE POLLS
After a strong weekend in conference play, Biolay jumped 15 spots in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings to No. 106. The new ranking is Biolay’s career-high singles ranking. The junior is one of 18 players in the Big 12 to be ranked in the ITA top 125 singles poll. In the latest ITA team poll, UCF is No. 62.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
The Knights hit the road for the first time in Big 12 Conference play and just the third time this season. Previous road trips included a stay in Norman, Oklahoma, for the ITA Kickoff Weekend and a short trip to Miami to take on FIU. UCF will play seven of the 11 remaining conference matches on the road, including three consecutive away matches from March 22-30.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Baylor opened conference play 2-0, defeating Cincinnati and West Virginia in its first two Big 12 matches of the season, improving to a 9-5 record and a 32nd-ranking in the latest ITA team poll. In a midweek matchup Tuesday, the Bears defeated No. 30 Arizona State, 4-2, two days after sweeping West Virginia 4-0. The squad took the doubles point and singles courts one, three and six in the four-hour battle in Waco. All three of the Bears’ singles points against West Virginia came in dominant, straight-set victories, including a 6-0, 6-0 decision at court one.
Miska Kadleckova, ranked No. 101 in singles by the ITA, calls Waco home and boasts a 7-1 record in dual matches, playing primarily at the top singles court. Kadleckova and doubles partner Danielle Tuhten own the best doubles record on the team, 7-2, and are currently on a seven-match win streak. Familiar face Sierra Berry transferred to the Bears during the summer and plays most of her singles competition at court two. Berry transferred from South Florida where she dropped a 6-2, 6-2 decision at singles court one during the 2023 season when her former team traveled to Orlando.
Joey Scrivano is the head coach and director of women’s tennis at Baylor and is in his 22nd season with the Bears. Scrivano has coached the program to a combined 19 Big 12 Conference championships, with both regular season and tournament titles.
UCF has historically been very successful against Baylor, owning the all-time series record 4-1. Most recently, the two faced off in the 2022 season, when Baylor was ranked No. 17. The Knights swept the Bears at the USTA National Campus, 4-0.
SCOUTING THE HORNED FROGS
TCU will play one additional conference match against Houston before facing the Knights but own a 6-2 (2-0) record on the season. The two losses come from Texas A&M, who swept the squad on the second day of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, and LSU, who defeated TCU 4-2 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This weekend marks the first home Big 12 matches for the Horned Frogs, as they faced both West Virginia and Cincinnati on the road last weekend.
Opening conference play with West Virginia, TCU swept the Mountaineers with singles wins at courts one, two and five, as well as clinching the doubles point at the top two courts. Cincinnati was much of the same, securing the doubles point at courts one and two and sweeping singles, dropping only two sets in the 7-0 victory.
The Horned Frogs have the 112th-ranked singles player in Destinee Martins with a 3-1 record this spring. Jade Otway is one of four singles players who remain undefeated, maintaining a clean 6-0 record, with two wins at court one and four at court two. Otway and Isabel Pascual are also undefeated in doubles and on a four-match win streak at the second doubles position.
TCU is coached by Lee Taylor Walker, who has been in Fort Worth since the 2014 season. In his nine seasons with the program, he has coached 10 All-Big 12 players and has helped the team ascend to a team-high ranking of No. 14.
The squads last went head-to-head during the 2023 season, where UCF defeated TCU 4-0 in Orlando. The win over TCU extended the Knights’ home win streak to 11 matches and also gave the Knights the advantage in the all-time series, 4-3.