The University of Central Florida was the lone Florida school to advance to the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships round of 16 from regional play when it pulled off a number of firsts over the weekend.
The No. 23-ranked UCF women improved their record to 24-3 when they ended FSU‘s season with a 4-1 win. FSU finished their season with a 21-7 record.
This marks UCF moving on to the sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament for the first time ever, and a first-ever defeat of FSU.
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“We have a ton of respect for that FSU team and how they compete. They got the best of us in January and I think our team learned a lot about themselves after that match,” said head coach Bryan Koniecko, “Since then, they have put their heads down and went to work and it was great to see that pay off today.”
It’s been just about 24 hours since we punched our ticket to the sweet 16!
Take a look back at Nandini’s fifth win in a row (which leads the team) that put us up 3-1 #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/QBTFqEa2rd
— UCF Women's Tennis (@UCF_WTennis) May 6, 2019
UCF blanked Alabama 4-0 in their opening round.
FSU while exiting set a number of high marks during the season.
“They’ve done amazing things this year,” FSU Head Coach Jennifer Hyde said of her team. “They’ll be stamped in the history books to be the best team ever to come through this program. They have a lot to be proud of and a lot of reasons to hold their heads high.”
FSU had a 21-win season for the fourth time in program history and the second season in a row. They also earned the most ACC wins ever with 11, and ranked a program-high No. 10 during the season.
The No. 24-ranked University of Florida (13-12) women saw their season come to an end with a 4-2 loss to No. 14 Kansas (21-4) in the second round at the Jayhawk Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Kansas.
No. 19-ranked University of Miami (19-8) also exited in the second round when a comeback fell short and they lost away to No. 15 Oklahoma State 4-3 at their home Greenwood Tennis Center.
“Credit to Oklahoma State. They played a great tennis match,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I couldn’t really be any prouder of this group. Where we were in January compared to where we are now is just the reason I get up every single day and it’s the reason I’ve been doing this for so many years.”
The UCF Knights will next head to California for their first-ever meeting with Pepperdine, who is the No. 6 national seed in the tournament, in the round of 16. The two will play Friday in Malibu, Calif., at 4 p.m. ET.
For more info go to www.itatennis.com/ITA/Media/News_2019/NCAA_Division_I_Championships_Open_Friday.aspx.
