Three Knights Earn Big 12 Postseason Awards, Lincer Tabbed Freshman of the Year

ORLANDO – Capping off a historic inaugural season as a member of the Big 12 Conference, the UCF women’s tennis team earned four postseason awards, as announced by the conference Thursday afternoon. Olivia Lincer brought home Freshman of the Year and a nod to the All-Freshman Team, Sophia Biolay earned a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team for Singles and Noel Saidenova was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team in Singles.

The league’s awards were determined by a vote of the conference’s 14 head coaches.

A standout freshman season from Lincer earned her one of the four ‘Of the Year’ awards, with conference champion and top-ranked Oklahoma State taking home the remaining three (Player, Newcomer & Coach).

In her true freshman season, Lincer amassed seven singles and five doubles victories. The Poland native found her rhythm in conference play, earning four singles wins in the month of April, including a three-match win streak spanning from April 12-17. Her seven singles victories also included two clinching points, against North Florida and Iowa State, the second most of any Knight.

Lincer earned her first win at the collegiate level in her first doubles competition. The 6-2 win at court two over then-No. 20 Georgia Tech was paramount to securing the doubles point for UCF, shifting the momentum needed to sweep the Yellow Jackets in the season opener. Her first singles win came from a match against the North Florida Ospreys at singles position No. 1, swiftly defeating her opponent 6-1, 6-2 to clinch the match for UCF.

In her third season with the Knights, Biolay played on the top singles courts throughout the season, only playing a combined five matches at courts two and three prior to the start of the 2024 season. The Reims, France, native earned 14 singles wins on the season, a team and career high. Kicking off the season at the No. 2 spot, she earned eight wins at the second spot, including a seven-match undefeated streak from Feb. 18 to March 15.

Coming into the season with just one ranked win in her career, the junior earned five additional ranked wins, including a straight-set win over Oklahoma State’s then-No. 15 Anastasiya Komar. The ranked wins helped her leap into the polls, debuting at No. 121 Feb. 20 for her first career ranking. After the win over Komar, Biolay skyrocketed to No. 57 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles polls for a career high and season high for the team.

Biolay clinched the first-round win over Kansas at the 2024 Big 12 Championship to send the Knights to the quarterfinals of the tournament. She closed out the season on a four-match win streak, collecting three ranked wins in that timespan and three straight-set victories.   

Known as “The Clincher”, Saidenova capped off her collegiate career with a bang, racking up 12 singles wins and four clinching points. The Saint-Petersburg, Russia, native began the dual-match season playing primarily at the third and fourth singles position, but continued to move up as her play improved, eventually playing at the top position for five matches. At No. 1 singles, Saidenova was a perfect 4-0, including a statement win over then-No. 11 Komar on Senior Knight (3-6, 6-3, 1-0 [10-8]). Her victory over Komar earned her a spot in the ITA singles rankings for the first time in her career, checking in at No. 97.

Saidenova came up big against TCU, securing the program’s first Big 12 win at court three. After trailing 3-0 early in the match, she was essential to the four-hour comeback 4-3 victory. The three-set clash marked her first ranked win of the season, prevailing over then-No. 112 Destinee Martins.

The Knight clinched three additional Big 12 matches, including the program’s first conference win on home court. Her first appearance at court one at the USTA National Campus was a head-to-head with Vanesa Suarez of Kansas State, who had been on a long unbeaten streak prior to the match. In Saidenova fashion, she clinched the first home conference win in a three-set fight (3-6, 6-3, 6-1) to secure the 4-1 win over the Wildcats.