KnightCap: Men’s Tennis Chomps the Gators… Again

Plus: Men’s Tennis’ season-opening winning streak continues

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

Over this past week, the UCF Knights sports world saw the arrival of women’s golf to the 2026 spring sports season alongside a match each of the Knights’ tennis teams and more.

We also have our Knight of the Weekend and Play of the Weekend in this Tuesday, Feb. 3 edition of KnightCap.

Men’s Tennis Takes Down #18 Florida

The #9 UCF men’s tennis team picked up its third consecutive win over a Top 25-ranked team in its return home to the USTA National Campus on Sunday

against #18 Florida, 4-2.

Similarly to the Knights’ pair of ITA Kickoff Weekend matchups, it was a close doubles point, with seniors Yassine Dlimi and Paul Colin clinching it on court one after needing a tiebreaker to defeat Florida’s Lorenzo Claverie and Henry Jefferson, 7-6 (9-7).

In singles play, Dlimi took care of business on court No. 1, disposing of Adhithya Ganesan in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, but it was sophomore Nicolas Oliveira who got the clinching point, coming back after losing the first set, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4.

The win gets the Knights out to their third consecutive 7-0 start, corresponding with the first three seasons of the Lloyd Bruce-Burgess era.

The Knights have one more match, a home one against Miami (FL) on Friday at 6 p.m., before traveling to Texas for the ITA National Indoor Championships.

Women’s Tennis Wins In Tally

The #25 UCF women’s tennis team overpowered FSU 4-1 on Friday afternoon at the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center, improving to 3-1 on the season.

UCF’s #50-ranked doubles team, sophomore Olivia Bergler and freshman Lauren Seye, kicked off doubles play on court three, defeating FSU’s M.B. Deatherage and Cade Cricchio 6-0.

The Seminoles battled back on court one, with Eva Shaw and Millie Bissett taking down senior Jantje Tilbuerger and sophomore Hannah Rylatt 6-1 to tie up doubles play 1-1.

The Knights were able to secure the doubles point with a 6-3 win from senior Daryna Shoshyna and freshman Marina Gatell on court two, taking down FSU’s Tina Li and Laura Putz.

The Seminoles evened the match in singles play when Deatherage beat Tilbuerger, 6-2, 6-4, on court four. Bergler responded for UCF on court two, where she took the first set, 6-1, against #44 Millie Bissett before the Seminole was forced to retire with the UCF sophomore leading 3-2 in the second set.

With the match tied at 2-1, two Knights took down their opponents to secure a 4-1 win. Seye won in straight sets on court five, 6-4, 6-3, over Li, while Gatell secured the overall match on court three with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 victory against #96-ranked Putz.

The Knights take a two-week break before a two-game road stretch, playing FIU on Friday, Feb. 13, and Miami on Sunday, Feb. 15.

Women’s Golf Tees Off Spring Slate

The #12 UCF Knights women’s golf team marked the start of its spring slate with a third-place finish in its home tournament, the UCF Challenge presented by PDI, at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Lake Nona this week.

The Knights finished at 15-under par (849 strokes), five strokes behind second-place #18 Mississippi State (20-under) and nine strokes back of the champions, #7 Auburn (24-under).

In anticipation of cold weather conditions on Tuesday morning, most of the third round was played on Monday afternoon. Such a change in plan did not stop the Knights from staving off a fellow Big 12 school, #21 Baylor, who finished in fourth at 10-under. They also beat out the likes of Penn State (5-under), South Florida (3-under) and #24 Kent State (5-over).

Sophomore Mila Jurine, ranked #53 in the nation, led the way for UCF individually. She tied for the lowest third-round score to vault herself to 8-under (208) par for the tournament and into a tie for second place overall with the #1 player in the nation, Mississippi State’s Avery Weed. The pair came just one stroke shy of the tournament’s individual champion, Auburn’s Katie Cranston.

This is Jurine’s third top-five individual finish this season.

Not far behind Jurine, senior Pimpisa “Sandwich” Sisutham, ranked #59 in the nation, marked her final UCF Challenge with a Top 1o finish, coming in a tie for seventh at 6-under (210 strokes).

The full results from the UCF Challenge can be viewed here.

The Knights will be back on the course Feb. 15-17 in Melbourne for the Moon Golf Invitational.

Women’s Basketball Falls Below .500

The UCF women’s basketball team fell to Iowa State, 65-52, on Saturday afternoon, dropping to 2-8 in conference play.

After the Cyclones scored the game’s first basket, the Knights (10-11, 2-8 Big 12) answered with a six-point run to take a 6-2 lead. Iowa State responded to keep the first quarter close, and with the score at 8-7, the Cyclones went on a 10-point run to take a lead they would hold for the remainder of the game.

Junior guard Audreonia Benson scored the first two points of the second quarter, cutting Iowa State’s lead to 17-14. The Cyclones responded with a nine-point run to extend their advantage to 12 points. Three-pointers from Benson and sophomore forward Mahogany Chandler-Roberts trimmed the deficit, but Iowa State maintained control and carried a 31-23 lead into halftime.

The third quarter opened with nearly a minute of scoreless play following four turnovers — two by UCF and two by Iowa State — before junior center Khyala Ngodu converted a free throw. UCF received 12 points off the bench in the quarter, but Iowa State matched that production with 15 points to maintain its lead.

UCF entered the fourth quarter trailing by 11 points and was unable to close the gap. Iowa State outscored the Knights 19-17 in the final period to secure the 65-52 victory. The Cyclones are now ranked eighth in the Big 12, while UCF sits 14th.

Graduate student guard Jacorriah Bracey led the team with 16 points, marking her third game of the season to score in the double-digits.

The Knights play the University of Utah on Wednesday at Addition Financial Arena at 7 p.m.

Knight of the Week

Wissam Abderrahman, Men’s Tennis

The Clemson transfer not only got a win in doubles play alongside senior Mehdi Benchakuroun, but came back after losing the first set to take down the #115-ranked player in the nation, Henry Jefferson, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).