Championship Central


PROVIDENCE, R.I. – UCF’s women’s tennis team has earned the No. 1 seed at the American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship presented by Air Force Reserve.
 
The women’s championship begins Wednesday, April 17, and continues through the April 20 final. The winner of the women’s championship will earn The American’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships.
 
Seeds for the championships are determined by the Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.
 
UCF earned the No. 1 seed for the second consecutive season after the Knights went 19-3 in the regular season. The Knights won 17 of their last 18 matches and have six wins against nationally ranked opponents.
 
Memphis, the No. 1 seed in the men’s championship, brings a 17-4 dual match record into the postseason. The Tigers have won their last 12 matches, including their last six contests against nationally ranked opponents.
 
Competition in the American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championships will take place at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Each match in the championship will consist of three doubles matches, each consisting of one set to 6, followed by six singles matches, which will be played in a best-of-three-sets format.
 
Complete coverage of The American Tennis Championships, including live scoring of each match, can be found on the conference’s Championship Central site. Live coverage of the women’s and men’s finals will be available on the American Digital Network.
 
 
Championship Notes
Tulsa enters the American Women’s Tennis Championship in search of its fourth title. The Golden Hurricane, seeded No. 3 in this year’s event, previously won the championship in 2015, 2016 and 2018. Tulsa is 11-1 all-time in the American Championship.
 
The No. 1 seed has won the team championship only once in the tournament’s five-year history (Tulsa in 2016).  The championship has been won by a No. 1 seed, a No. 2 seed, two No. 3 seeds and a No. 7 seed.
 
The American has two teams in the most recent Oracle/ITA national rankings. UCF is ranked No. 23, while USF is No. 45.
 
UCF sophomore Valeryia Zeleva is the highest-ranked singles player in The American, entering this week at No. 48 in the Oracle/ITA rankings as of April 9. USF’s Ana Roman Dominguez is ranked No. 56, Tulsa’s Martina Okalova is No. 80, UCF’s Ksenia Kuznetsova is ranked No. 89, Wichita State’s Fatima Bizhukova is No. 111, Tulsa’s Martha Matoula is No. 112 and SMU’s Vivienne Kulicke is No. 118.
 
The American has five doubles tandems ranked among the ITA’s top 75, including Tulsa’s Martina Oklalova/Vera Ploner, who are No. 13, and UCF’s Valeriya Zeleva/Ksenia Kuznetsova, who are at No. 19.
 
Wichita State has 11 conference titles in the last 13 seasons, all as part of the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
ECU enters the American Championship with a program-record 22-match winning streak.
 
 

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
presented by AIR FORCE RESERVE
April 17-20 | Orlando, Florida
 

First Round | Wednesday, April 17
Match 1: No. 9 Temple (13-5) vs. No. 8 Memphis (12-9)	9 a.m.
Match 2: No. 12 UConn (5-12) vs. No. 5 Wichita State (13-9)	9 a.m.
Match 3: No. 11 Tulane (10-13) vs. No. 6 SMU (9-11)	Noon
Match 4: No. 10 Cincinnati (11-10) vs. No. 7 ECU (22-2)	Noon
Quarterfinals | Thursday, April 18
Match 5: Temple/Memphis winner vs. No. 1 UCF (19-3)	Noon
Match 6: UConn/Wichita State winner vs. No. 4 Tulsa (14-9)	Noon
Match 7: Tulane/SMU winner vs. No. 3 Houston (14-6)	3 p.m.
Match 8: Cincinnati/ECU winner vs. No. 2 USF (11-10)	3 p.m.
Semifinals | Friday, April 19
Match 9: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner	3 p.m.
Match 10: Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner	3 p.m.
Final | Saturday, April 20 | American Digital Network
Match 11: Semifinal winners	3 p.m.

 

all times Eastern