Men's Tennis Set for NCAA First-Round Tilt Against No. 23 Florida in TallahasseeMen's Tennis Set for NCAA First-Round Tilt Against No. 23 Florida in Tallahassee

Men's Tennis Set for NCAA First-Round Tilt Against No. 23 Florida in Tallahassee

by Alex Clough

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With every step in the Knights’ inaugural Big 12 campaign, the squad hits a new gear, and with the program’s seventh all-time NCAA tournament appearance on the horizon, there is no time like the present.

Following a dominating regular-season display, headlined by 18 wins and the fourth-best record in the conference, the UCF men’s tennis team is set to meet a familiar foe. For the third occasion and first since 2005, the Knights will line up across Florida for the 24th meeting between the two Florida powerhouses.

For the Gators (13-11, 6-6), their first season under head coach Adam Steinberg has been filled with peaks and valleys, though they found form late, tallying four wins from their final six in the regular season.

With a second duel on the horizon, UCF (18-5, 4-3) has a plethora of back-and-forth bouts to precede Friday’s match. In the regular-season finale, the Knights took the doubles point against TCU in swift fashion and eventually battled down to the wire against the second-ranked Horned Frogs. In the first round of the Big 12 tournament, the Knights were on the verge of reversing a three-zero deficit before falling to the Cowboys 4-2.

Knight Notables

  • Bruce-Burgess has tallied multiple program bests in his first season, headlined by a 14-1 record through 15 matches, the strongest start to any campaign in UCF history. Now with his first NCAA Tournament appearance as head coach on the horizon, the English native will look to become the first coach to advance past the first round in his first year.
  • Seven of the eight Knights who have featured in 2024 have clinched a match, with seven boasting more than one. Mehdi Benchakroun’s four clinches mark the most, headlined by securing UCF’s first win in the Big 12 over at Baylor in March.
  • The Knights have been dominant on the back three, holding a combined 45-10 record on courts four through six. UCF is 16-1 when taking court four, 13-1 when taking court five and 15-1 when taking court six.
  • Since slotting into court three, Paul Colin has yet to lose, attaining two wins against BYU and TCU. Of Knights who have completed at least 10 matches, the St. Barts native boasts the best win percentage (10-1 | 91%). Colin is an impressive 11-1 in second sets this season and has yet to drop a third (3-0)

The Opponent

The Gators secured their 41st bid to the NCAA tournament following Steinberg’s first season at the realm in Gainesville, becoming the third head coach in Florida history to achieve the feat. Now three years separated from its National Championship in 2021, a new guard leads the squad, led by No. 50 Jeremy Jin, who boats a 9-9 record in singles thus far.

Once again, the doubles point will be highly contested as the Gators line up two ranked tandems, led by No. 27 Nate Bonetto and Aidan Kim, alongside No. 81 Tanapatt Nirundorn and Adhithya Ganesan. The formers are 8-8 on court one, though they dropped each of their SEC Tournament contests.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Florida’s strong singles display propelled them to a first-round win over Vanderbilt before eventually bowing out to the No. 6 Tennessee, 4-0. A season ago, the Gators lost to Oklahoma State in the first round, their first exit at that stage since 2015.

With one tenured coach out the door, Bryan Shelton, Steinberg brings years of collegiate experience to the Orange and Blue. A 2006 NCAA Champion at Pepperdine, the Penn State graduate led another Big 10 program, Michigan, to seven NCAA Tournament appearances before being named Florida’s 11th head coach in program history.