ORLANDO – The No. 19 women’s team returns to the road this weekend, beginning with a matchup against Iowa State on Friday, March 20. The Knights will then travel to face the No. 48 Kansas Jayhawks on Sunday, March 22.
UCF is set to take on the Cyclones at PM. EST at the Iowa State Tennis Facility before heading to Lawrence, Kansas, where they will meet the Jayhawks at 1 PM inside the Jayhawk Tennis Center.
LAST TIME OUT
The Knights had yet another perfect weekend at the USTA National Campus, defeating the No. 51 Colorado Buffaloes on Friday, before taking down No. 30 Texas Tech on Sunday.
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.
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: Vladislava 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.