Tulsa Women’s Tennis Team Falls 4-1 to UCF in AAC Championship

Sunday, April 25

Orlando, Fla.

11:00 am CT

Tulsa

UCF

Tulsa Women’s Tennis Team Falls 4-1 to UCF in AAC Championship

4/25/2021 3:03:00 PM | Women's Tennis

ORLANDO, Fla. –– The 46^th-ranked Tulsa women's tennis team made its 5^th trip to the title match of the American Athletic Conference Championship in the last six tournaments but fell to the nation's 8^th-ranked UCF Knights by a score of 4-1 Sunday afternoon at the USTA National Campus.

The 11 a.m. start time was delayed to 11:30 a.m. as the match was moved indoors due to rain.

UCF (18-4), the No. 1 seed, received The American's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship with the victory, while Tulsa (15-7) will await to find out its fate when the NCAA bracket is announced on May 3.

The Knights jumped out to a 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point with wins at the No. 3 and No. 2 positions. UCF pushed its lead to 2-0 when the nation's 30^th-ranked Rebeka Stolmar took a 6-1, 6-0 victory from Tulsa's Laie Conde Monfort at the No. 2 position, avenging a loss to Monfort earlier in the week.

The five remaining matches went to a third set. Tulsa's No. 1 Martina Okalova won her first set 6-2, but lost the next two by scores of 6-2, 6-3 to the nation's 19^th-ranked Valeriya Zeleva as the Knights took a 3-0 lead.

After losing her first set 6-1, Lian Benedejcic was dominant the rest of the way at the N0. 6 position by claiming the next two sets with identical 6-1 scores. She jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set and after the third set was tied at 1-1 she scored the next five points to put Tulsa on the scoreboard with its first point.

UCF's third nationally-ranked player, 99^th-ranked Evgeniya Levashova came back to win the final two sets over Tulsa's Shura Poppe at the No. 3 spot for the win. Poppe won the first set 6-2 win before Leshova scored 6-0, 6-2 wins to give the Knights a 4-1 victory and its second straight American title.

The championship appearance for the Hurricane was its 5^th in seven years as a league member (but last year's championship was canceled due to covid-19). Tulsa won the championship in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and had its other runner-up finish in 2017. The Hurricane is now 14-3 all-time in the tournament.

#8 UCF 4, #46 TULSA 1
SINGLES
#1    #19 Valeriya Zeleva (UCF) def. #88 Martina Okalova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
#2    #30 Rebeka Stolmar (UCF) def. Laia Conde Monfort (Tulsa) 6-1, 6-0
#3    #99 Evgeniya Levashova (UCF) def. Shura Poppe (Tulsa) 2-6, 6-0, 6-2
#4    Vera Ploner (Tulsa) vs. Ksenia Kuznetsova (UCF) 2-6, 7-5, 3-4, unfinished
#5    Valeryia Rozenkova (Tulsa) vs. Nadja Bay Christians (UCF) 6-3, 6-7 (7-2), 4-2, unfinished
#6    Lian Benedejcic (Tulsa) def. Nandini Sharma (UCF) 1-6, 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 6, 3

DOUBLES
#1    #88 Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner (Tulsa) vs. Ksenia Kuznetsova/ Valeriya Zeleva (UCF) 4-5, unfinished
#2    Nadja Bay Christians/Evgeniya Levashova (UCF) def. Shura Poppe/Valeryia Rozenkova (Tulsa) 6-2
#3    Nandini Sharma/ Rebeka Stolmar (UCF) def. Megan Hopton/Laie Conde Monfort (Tulsa) 6-1
Order of Finish: 3, 2