Men's Tennis Welcomes FGCU and Southern Miss for Friday DoubleheaderMen's Tennis Welcomes FGCU and Southern Miss for Friday Doubleheader
Edward Finan / UCF Athletics

Men's Tennis Welcomes FGCU and Southern Miss for Friday Doubleheader

by Alex Clough
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ORLANDO - There is now time to dwell on a dominating opening slate to the 2025 season for the UCF men’s tennis team, as after three wins across five days, the Knights will be back in action once again tomorrow for the second of five doubleheaders this season.

UCF will welcome FGCU (0-3) and Southern Miss (0-0) to the USTA National Campus for another exciting day of action. Friday’s opener will see the Knights and Eagles play at 10 a.m. before adding the Golden Eagles to the fold at 5 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT

UCF improved to 6-0 against Wichita State on Wednesday night following another strong performance from both the doubles and singles lineups. A trio of new pairings produced a pair of victories, as Santiago Giamichelle and Mehdi Benchakroun took care of business convincingly, 6-1, before Yassine Dlimi and Emilio Sanchez clinched the point on court two, 6-4.

Familiar faces led the team to victory in singles, with straight-set wins from freshman Nicolas Oliveira, Santiago Gimaichelle and Mehdi Benchakroun securing the match. Yassine Dlimi and Walid Ahouda both prevailed in three-setters to move to 3-0, a great conclusion to the squad’s first midweek of the year.

QUICK HITS

  • Lloyd Bruce-Burgess became the first head coach in program history to start both his first two campaigns 3-0, while overall UCF has achieved the feat for the first time since 1977-78.
  • Giamichelle has yet to drop a set across six singles and doubles contests. The Argentinian has dropped just four games through three doubles matches on court three, while his singles play has produced a trio of straight-set sweeps.
  • The Moroccan connection continues to dominate, with Benchakroun, Dlimi and Ahouda each sitting at 3-0 in singles. While Benchakroun hasn’t dropped a set during his three victories, the latter two have each battled in multiple three-set bouts to secure the hot starts.

THE OPPONENT

FGCU

The Eagles have stumbled out of the gates thus far, dropping their opening three contests to Florida State. Georgia Southern and Alabama State. The latter of the three came after FGCU claimed the doubles point, setting the Knights up for a tough challenge. The two squads met multiple times this fall, with the A-Sun participants returning multiple key pieces from last season. A win would make FGCU the 12th team the Knights have tallied 10 wins against all-time, having not lost a match in their nine contests.

A graduate of UCF, Josh Molino is embarking on his first season in Southwest Florida after serving as an assistant with Tulsa. Orlando native Harry Michalowski and Hugo Magnusson return to lead the young group.

Southern Miss

Former conference mates in the C-USA, UCF and Southern Miss met for the first since 2009 last season, resulting in a convincing Knights sweep, 7-0. The Golden Eagles are led by 11th-year head coach Zubin Engineer, having consistently boasted a diverse roster of student-athletes from across the world.

The Golden Eagles return a relatively new squad, with Olle Noltorp and Saheb Sodhi serving as the only athletes who played in last season’s contest.