ORLANDO - A promising 5-0 start following a convincing homestand from the UCF men’s tennis team sets up head coach Lloyd Bruce-Burgess and the squad for his first ITA Kickoff Weekend at the realm.
The Knights are set to travel to Tucson, Arizona, this weekend with the goal of qualifying for the ITA Indoor Championships. UCF’s first-round opponent is a familiar face, as Big 12 foe Oklahoma State will face the Knights on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. ET/10 a.m. MT.
On the other side of the bracket, host No. 6 Arizona and USC will meet to conclude Saturday's action, with the championship and consolation matches to be played on Sunday. Each contest will be held at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center.
LAST TIME OUT
UCF hosted a trio of teams this past week at the USTA National Campus, authoring a sweep in the process. First disposing of Wichita State during a midweek contest, 6-1, the Knights were dominant in the second of five doubleheaders two days later against FGCU and Southern Miss.
The Black and Gold didn't drop a point en route to the triumphs, taking the doubles points in each to control the momentum throughout. The squad didn't drop a set between 18 singles and doubles contests.
QUICK HITS
- Junior and team captain Mehdi Benchakroun became the second Knight in program history to be tabbed Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, with the announcement coming after a brilliant display across each win. The Moroccan took each singles contest in straight sets to go along with a pair of doubles wins, moving his record to a perfect 5-0 for the second consecutive season.
- UCF tallied its second-consecutive 5-0 start for the first time in program history, as Bruce-Burgess and assistant Kareem Allaf’s squad continued to jump out of the gate strongly. In 2024, the Knights would move to 7-0 before losing their first contest, following it up with seven more wins on the jump to secure the best 15-match start (14-1)
- The Knights have been dominant in singles play, falling in just three matches while securing 24 wins. A primary source of the squad’s success has come in the second, outscoring opponents 160 to 88.
- Freshmen Adriano Dzhenev and Simeon Terziev joined fellow newcomer Nicolas Oliveira in securing their first collegiate dual-match wins. While the latter sits at 4-0, having not dropped a set, Dzhenev and Terziev produced wins in the doubleheader nightcap against the Golden Eagles.
THE OPPONENTS
Oklahoma State (First Round, Saturday at Noon)
A dramatic 4-3 win in Orlando followed by a quarterfinal defeat in the Big 12 Championship propelled matchups with the Cowboys to the top of the schedule in 2025. Each squad’s season has gone two routes thus far, as Oklahoma State dropped a pair of contests in California against UC Santa Barbara and San Diego, still rallying in each to keep the contests close.
Isaac Becroft, ranked 108th in the preseason ITA singles rankings returns to lead the group. After taking both doubles points in 2024, the Cowboys boast the 65th-ranked tandem of Francisco Pini and Ian Bracks.
Arizona (Championship/Consolation, Sunday)
Tabbed second in the Big 12 in the conference's preseason poll, the Wildcats serve as a formidable side with depth across the board. Following a third-round exit a season ago to Columbia in the NCAA tournament, Arizona possesses two of the top players in the nation in Colton Smith (fifth) and Jay Friend (sixth). One of two schools alongside No. 1 Texas to land two players in the singles top-10 rankings, Zoran Ludoski (61st) and Oskar Jansson (89th) also provide strength deeper in the lineup.
A season-opening doubleheader sweep against New Mexico State was followed by two victories over Georgia State and No. 10 Florida State in Tallahassee. The Knights are scheduled to host Arizona at the USTA National Campus as the second of two matches in a conference-opening homestand on Mar. 16.
USC (Championship/Consolation, Sunday)
Embarking on its first season in the Big Ten, the Trojans are striving to have a bounce-back season after a disappointing 7-16 mark in their last campaign in the Pac-12. A pair of sweeps over UC Irvine and San Diego State provide momentum for sixth-year head coach Brett Masi. Before the 2024 season, USC was on a stretch of four consecutive conference titles, including multiple prominent individual honors.
The lone ranked tandem comes in the form of Tristan Bradley and Niels Hoffmann who sit 109th in the nation. Senior Peter Makk has jumped out to a 2-0 record on court one, leading a balanced group with a mix of veteran presence and youthful energy.