ORLANDO – Following yet another winning weekend at the USTA National Campus, the UCF men’s tennis team is holding steady being tabbed twelfth once again in the latest ITA rankings.
The ranking comes after the Knights solidified wins over then No. 53 BYU and Utah last weekend at home. The Black and Gold secured a dominating 4-1 victory over the Cougars before sweeping the Utes, 4-1.
In its first match last week the day began with BYU claiming the doubles point with wins on courts two and three, before the Knights surged back as Paul Colin opened singles with a 6-4, 6-3 win. The first singles win was followed by freshman Pedro Rodrigues’ 6-3, 6-2 victory to give UCF the lead. Senior Yassine Dlimi delivered a hard-fought 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 win on court one, while fellow senior Mehdi Benchakroun clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-3 result on court two, marking his third straight win and second match-clincher of the season.
As for the match against the Utes, the Knights rolled to a 4-0 sweep on Saturday at the USTA National Campus, bringing their perfect home record to 13-0. Wearing Canaveral Blue, the ‘Nauts controlled doubles early with wins from Nicolas Oliveira and Luca Hotze on court three and the top‑court duo of Colin and Dlimi, before carrying that momentum into singles where Clement Lemire dominated 6-1, 6-1 on court six, No. 83 Abderrahman matched the court six score on court two and No. 71 Dlimi clinched the sweep with a composed 6-2, 6-3 victory.
In this week’s rankings, the Knights are once again sit in the top half of the Big 12, trailing top 10 programs and this week’s opponents in TCU (5) and Baylor (8). Just two spots ahead of the Knights is Arizona who slots in at 10. Filling out the rest of the league’s representation is Arizona State at No. 26, Oklahoma State at No. 39, BYU at No. 63 and Texas Tech at No. 66.
Now with just one home match and two road trips remaining on this seaon’s slate, the Knights are set to face off against a ranked opponent in every contest left.
LOOKING AHEAD
UCF is set to embark on its first road trip in conference play, traveling to the Lonestar State to face No. 5 TCU on March 27 followed by No. 8 Baylor on March 28.
MARCH 24 TOP 25
- Wake Forest
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Virginia
- TCU
- Mississippi State
- LSU
- Baylor
- Arizona
- Texas A&M
- Georgia
- UCF
- San Diego
- Illinois
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Vanderbilt
- Notre Dame
- NC State
- UCLA
- Florida
- Stanford
- Auburn
- Southern California
- Pepperdine