KnightCap: Serving Up Sweeps

Over this past weekend, the UCF Knights sports world saw the tennis teams fight for spots in the ITA Indoor Championships and the track and field team claim some medals as it splits up for the first time this spring.

We also have our Knight of the Weekend and Play of the Weekend in this Monday, Jan. 26 edition of KnightCap.

Men’s Tennis Punches Return Ticket To ITA Indoors

The #12 UCF Men’s Tennis team is heading back to the ITA National Indoor Championships for a second straight season after emerging from what head coach Lloyd Bruce-Burgess called “the group of death” of ITA Kickoff Weekend in Berkeley, California.

The Knights (6-0) ended up making quick work of #21 USC on Friday to pull off their third sweep of the season. It was a close doubles point, with it all coming down to Court No. 1, where seniors Yassine Dlimi and Paul Colin needed a tiebreaker set to escape Andrin Casanova and Jack McCarthy, 7-6(7-4).

Dlimi also picked up the clinching point in singles play, 7-5, 7-5, on court No. 1 against Branko Djuric.

UCF ended up on the back foot the following day over #17 Oklahoma, however. This time, the Knights were on the losing end of a close doubles point that came down to one matchup, with Clemson transfer Wissam Abderrahman and senior Mehdi Benchakroun falling to Orel Kimhi and Johan Rodriguez on Court No. 2, 7-6 (7-4).

The Sooners’ momentum continued into singles play, with #46 Luis Alvarez and Rodriguez taking care of Abderrahman and Benchakroun, respectively, in straight sets to go up 3-0, just one point away from victory. 

The Knights did get on the board shortly afterward, with Dlimi taking down #57 Oscar Lacides, 7-5, 6-4, and freshman Pedro Rodrigues taking care of Kimhi, 6-4, 6-2, in straight sets. Still, they needed to take both of the remaining matches left in play to punch their ticket.

The first to succeed was senior Paul Colin, who came back from losing the first set to upset #74 Asahi Harazaki, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, which gave the clinching point to Oregon transfer Clement Lemire on Court No. 6, who bounced back from losing a close second set to finish off Alejandro Melero, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

The wins get the Knights off to a 6-0 start for a third consecutive season, aligning with the beginning of the Bruce-Burgess era.

The ITA National Indoor Championships, held in Dallas and Waco, Texas, get underway on Feb. 13, but before that, UCF will host two teams at the USTA National Campus, starting with Florida on Sunday at noon.

Women’s Tennis Splits ITA Kickoff Weekend

The #24 UCF Women’s Tennis team is coming home from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with one win and one loss from ITA Kickoff Weekend.

The Knights’ (2-1) chance to punch a ticket to the ITA National Indoor Championships as their male counterpart ended on Saturday with their loss to #18 UCLA, 4-1.

Senior Jantje Tilbuerger picked up UCF’s lone point of the match with a win over Ahmani Guichard, 6-4, 7-5, though both freshman Marina Gatell and Northern Arizona transfer Daryna Shoshyna did force third sets in their matches against #75 Kate Fakih and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer respectively, that ended up going unfinished.

The Knights rebounded the next day with a sweep against Marshall, 4-0. Although the win might be closer than the score suggests.

Tilbuerger once again picked up a singles play win, which, combined with a dominant doubles point and wins from sophomores Vladislava Andreevskaya and Jade Psonka in straight sets, sealed the deal. All three of UCF’s singles play wins came from the lower three courts.

On Courts 1-3, however, all three Marshall players took their first sets, with one of them even one game away from finishing off Gatell to get the Thundering Herd on the board.

While not advancing to the ITA National Indoor Championships, the Knights’ road trip still continues as they travel to take on Florida State at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Track and Field Divides and Conquers

The UCF Track and Field team split up for the first time this season over the weekend.

While initially planning to attend the Orange & Purple Invitational at Clemson this weekend, the distance group instead made a return trip to Gainesville for the Alachua County Sports and Event Center Invitational. The Knights brought home several podium finishes.

Junior Alexandra Raquet was a standout, not only capturing silver in the 1,000-meter run with a 2:53.05, but also taking gold in the 3K run with a 9:29.11, the fastest time in the event in program history by someone not named Anne-Marie Blaney.

There was also junior Yvone Sandui, who beat Raquet for the gold in the 1,000-meter run with a 2:51.71, setting a new program record. All of UCF’s results from Gainesville can be viewed here.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Knights previewed the site of the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Stan Scott Invite, hosted by Texas Tech.

UCF returns from Lubbock with two silver medals, one from a 4×400-meter relay team that added itself to the record books with the ninth-fastest time in the event in program history, and another from freshman Lilou Lapeyrie in the high jump with a 1.66m best jump.

There were also four bronze medalists among the Knights’ contingent:

• Senior Kimberly “Tuti” Smith in the long jump with a 5.97m best jump.
• Freshman Lida Besila in the triple jump with a 12.43m best jump.
• Senior Jazmen Newberry in the 400m with a 54.44s time.
• Freshman Morgan Rothwell in the 600-yard run with a 1:24.77 time.

All of UCF’s results from the Stan Scott Invite can be viewed here.

After taking a week off this coming weekend, the Knights, minus the distance squad, will hit the road to College Station, Texas, for the Charlie Thomas Invitational from Feb. 6-7.

Women’s Basketball Drops To .500

The UCF Women’s Basketball team was defeated by #9 TCU, 67-50, on Saturday at home.

Sophomore forward Mahogany Chandler-Roberts led the Knights (10-10, 2-7 Big 12) in scoring with 17 points on 7-10 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. It is the sixth time Chandler-Roberts has scored double figures this season.

UCF got off to a hot start in the first four minutes of the game, getting out to a four-point lead. The offense would cool off, however, finishing the half with 16 points. 

The Knights’ defense had its hands full with TCU’s senior guard Olivia Miles, who is projected to be drafted in the first round of this year’s WNBA draft. The Knights forced seven turnovers from Miles, but still finished with 17 points as the Horned Frogs’ leading scorer.

UCF now prepares to travel to Ames to take on Iowa State in its 10th Big 12 game of the season on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Knight of the Week

Yvone Sandui, Track and Field

Not only did Sandui take gold in the 1,000-meter run in Gainesville, but she also set a new program record in the event as well, unseating Charlotte Crook’s 2:52.16 from back in 2024.

Knights Play of the Week

Paul Colin’s Match Point To Keep UCF alive vs. Oklahoma

On Tap This Week

Sunday-Tuesday

• Women’s Golf hosts UCF Challenge Presented by PDI at Eagle Creek Golf Club

Tuesday

• Men’s Basketball vs. Arizona State – 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Friday

• Women’s Tennis @ Florida State – 4 p.m.

Saturday

• Men’s Basketball vs. #12 Texas Tech – 12 p.m. (ESPN 2)
• Women’s Basketball @ Iowa State – 3 p.m. (ESPN+)

Sunday

• Men’s Tennis vs. Florida – 12 p.m.