ORLANDO – The No. 8 UCF men's tennis team returned home with an impressive 4-1 victory over No. 28 Clemson on Saturday evening at the USTA National Campus.
After dropping the doubles point, the Knights rallied with four straight singles wins from Clement Lemire, Pedro Rodrigues, No. 118 Yassine Dlimi and Oliveira who clinched the match. The Black and Gold now reach double-digit wins on the season, improving to 10-2.
UCF claimed one doubles court, with the new sophomore pairing of Nicolas Oliveira and Lemire earning a 6-4 win. Court one fell first, followed by court two, where Wissam Abderrahman and Mehdi Benchakroun were edged out in a tiebreak.
In singles, Lemire struck quickly, becoming the first Knight to finish as he rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 victory.
Moving just two courts over, freshman Pedro Rodrigues followed with a hard-fought three-set win, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0, improving to 4-1 on the year.
On one, Dlimi tightened the team score to 3-1, claiming a victory for himself on court one in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
Attention shifted to No. 52 Abderrahman and Oliveira, both nearing match point. Oliveira ultimately sealed the Knights victory with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 finish.
In addition to Abderrahman, Benchakroun also went unfinished after dropping his set and halted at 6-6 in the second.
UP NEXT
The Knights return home to close out the weekend on Sunday, Febraury 22 to take on the UNCW Seahawks at noon.
Singles Results
Doubles Results