Women's Tennis Slides Up to No. 19 in Latest ITA PollWomen's Tennis Slides Up to No. 19 in Latest ITA Poll
Jon Rose / UCF Athletics

Women's Tennis Slides Up to No. 19 in Latest ITA Poll

by Aiden Kocol
Opens in a new window Full March 17 ITA Poll

ORLANDO – Following yet another perfect weekend at the USTA national campus, the UCF women’s tennis team has moved to No. 19 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, as announced on Tuesday morning.

The Knights advance to the top of the Big 12 standings alongside TCU and Baylor, each holding a 5-1 mark in conference action, while UCF stands at 12-2 overall.

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The Knights dominated the Colorado Buffaloes from start to finish on Friday evening, securing the doubles point in a clean two-court fashion. Though the Buffs struck back in singles, taking court four, Olivia Bergler quickly put the Knights back on track, winning her first court one match of conference play, 6-0, 6-4, against Aya El Sayed. 

The Knights never looked back from there, quickly securing courts three and two to take the match 4-1. Jantje Tilbuerger’s clinching point on court two was her fourth of dual-match play, and fifth of the season, meaning she has clinched four of the Knights' five conference victories so far.   

The Knights got off to a slow start in Sunday’s match against then-No. 30 Texas Tech, narrowly dropping the doubles point. But the Black and Gold quickly erased that early deficit, responding with five first-set wins within the opening hour to seize control of the match.

The equalizer came from Jade Psonka on court six, who delivered her eighth win of the season in commanding fashion, defeating Brownback in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Her victory sparked a decisive stretch, as three more wins followed within 10 minutes: Andreevskaya overcoming Sleptsova in a second-set tiebreak, 6-2, 7-6(5) and Bergler with a straight-set victory on court one, taking down Murphy, 7-5, 6-3. Marina Gatell sealed the match, though, coming back from a 4-2 deficit in the second set on court three, she rallied to defeat Mariia Hlahola, 6-4, 6-4.

The Knights have now won 20 consecutive matches at home, not dropping a single match last season in Lake Nona and improving to a clean 7-0 early this dual-match season.

LOOKING AHEAD
The squad will hit the road for a Friday evening match against Iowa State on March 20, before turning their attention to the No. 48 Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday at 1 PM EST 

March 17, 2026 Top-25

  1. Georgia
  2. Pepperdine
  3. Ohio State
  4. Auburn
  5. Texas A&M
  6. UNC
  7. Texas
  8. USC
  9. Oklahoma
  10. UCLA
  11. LSU
  12. Vanderbilt
  13. Arizona State
  14. NC State
  15. Virginia
  16. California, Berkeley
  17. Florida
  18. Tennessee
  19. UCF
  20. Clemson
  21. Washington
  22. Wisconsin
  23. Duke
  24. South Carolina
  25. TCU