ORLANDO – Coming off a strong weekend at home, the UCF women’s tennis team will embark on one final road trip this regular season. The Knights travel to Ames, Iowa, to take on Iowa State Friday before closing out the regular season in Lawrence, Kan. at Kansas Sunday. Both matches have an anticipated first serve time of 1 p.m. ET.
LAST TIME OUT
The Black and Gold closed out their time at the USTA National Campus this season with two strong showings against Kansas State and No. 1 Oklahoma State. The squad secured its first Big 12 Conference win at home Friday night against K-State with a dominant 4-1 decision. The Knights took the doubles point and continued to show out in singles, with numerous players tacking on wins to their conference records. The clinching point came from none other than Noel Saidenova, who has clinched four matches for UCF this season including the first win over a Big 12 opponent at TCU. Saidenova has continued to shine at the top singles position, downing Vanesa Suarez in three sets to secure the home win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Jantje Tilbuerger and Olivia Lincer were the other two Knights to earn wins in the match against the Wildcats, both in straight sets.
Senior Knight proved to be a more difficult challenge with the top-ranked Cowgirls in town. OSU clinched the match with the doubles point and three singles courts, but the coaches had agreed pre-match to play out all remaining courts. The first Knight to put a point on the board was Saidenova with a battle of a win over No. 11 Anastasiya Komar in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 [10-8]. Moments later, Tilbuerger earned another conference win, this time over the 63rd-ranked singles player from OSU, in two sets, 7-6(2), 6-2. Kattenberg put a cap on the afternoon with her first ranked win of the season, a 2-6, 6-4, 1-0[10-3] victory over No. 85 Ayumi Miyamoto.
KNIGHTS IN THE POLLS
Thanks to a strong weekend at the No. 1 singles position, Saidenova jumped into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles poll for the first time in her collegiate career. The perfect weekend, including a top-15 singles win, propelled her to No. 97 in the rankings, the first time this season a Knight has entered the top 100. The team has remained steady at No. 55 in the team poll.
BIG (12) LEADERS
Singles play has been a strong mark for the Knights in Big 12 play, with numerous players boasting undefeated conference records. Tilbuerger leads the conference in numerous marks, including overall win percentage and wins at court four. With a perfect 8-0 record in Big 12 play, the sophomore leads the conference in wins at the fourth position with six, two more than the player in second. With four wins at the top court, Saidenova stands with just one other player with a perfect record at court one with multiple wins.
SCOUTING THE CYCLONES
After a historic Elite Eight run in the NCAA Championship last year, the Cyclones own a 3-15 record throughout the 2024 dual-matches season. Iowa State is 1-10 in Big 12 play with a lone 4-3 win over Cincinnati on the road. The squad split its last road trip, with a win over Cincinnati and a 4-1 loss to West Virginia. The triumph over Cincinnati was the team’s first win since the opening week of the spring season, when it defeated South Dakota and Missouri State.
Anna Kuearum leads the team in singles with a 9-7 record at the top position and two ranked wins on the season. The junior is at 5-4 in conference play and recently became the 10th Cyclone in program history to earn nine singles wins at the top spot in a single season. The tandem of Kuearum and Isabella Dunlap leads ISU in doubles competition, playing primarily at the No. 1 spot with a 4-4 record there.
Head coach Jaron Maestas is in his first season at the helm of the Cyclone squad, previously serving as the associate head coach at Kansas for two seasons. The match Friday marks the fourth time that the two programs have met, with Iowa State leading the all-time series history 2-1.
SCOUTING THE JAYHAWKS
Kansas, now ranked No. 54 in the latest ITA team poll, is 8-12 through this dual-matches season and 5-6 in conference play. The Jayhawks are returning home after a successful road trip to West Virginia and Cincinnati, defeating both programs 5-2 and 6-1, respectively.
Kyoka Kubo leads the squad in singles, boasting a 13-4 record in dual-matches play and 4-3 in conference play. The freshman has a perfect 8-0 record at court four and is split 4-4 at court three. In doubles play, the duo of Jasmine Adams and Maria Titova own the most wins on the team, with a 5-5 record at court three. The Jayhawks are reliable at the second doubles position, as they are 10-7 overall on court two. Kubo and Jocelyn Massey lead the charge at No. 2, taking four matches and dropping just one at the court.
Gracie Mulville is the lone Jayhawk ranked in the latest ITA singles poll, checking in at No. 103, owning a 7-9 record on the year. She earned a big, ranked win over then-No. 23 Malaika Rapolu of Texas in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5 to propel her up the rankings. She also has taken down No. 58 Vanesa Suarez of K-State, No. 85 Cristina Tiglea of Texas Tech and No. 74 Bobo Huang of BYU at the top singles position this season, all in straight sets.
The match Sunday marks the first time that the programs will meet, both as individual programs and as conference mates.