IRVING, Texas – UCF’s women’s tennis team has earned the No. 1 seed for the 2021 American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship.
 
The women’s championship begins Thursday, April 22, and continues through the April 25 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 third consecutive season after the Knights went 15-4 in the regular season. The Knights have won eight of their last nine matches and have six wins against nationally ranked opponents, including a 4-3 decision against No. 4 Florida State last Friday.
 
Competition in the American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championships will take place at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. 
 
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 ESPN+.
 
 
Championship Notes
UCF won the most recent American Athletic Conference Championship as the Knights claimed their first title in 2019. The 2020 championship was not played due to the COVID-19 pandemic
 
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 12-2 all-time in the American Championship.
 
The No. 1 seed has won the team championship only twice in the tournament’s six-year history (Tulsa in 2016, UCF in 2019).  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 three teams in the most recent Oracle/ITA national computer rankings. UCF is No. 18, SMU is No. 38 and Tulsa is No. 46 in the April 14 rankings.
 
UCF junior Valeryia Zeleva is the highest-ranked singles player in The American, entering this week at No. 22 in the Oracle/ITA rankings as of April 14. The Knights’ Rebeka Stolmar is No. 28, followed by Memphis’ Sophie Abrams at No. 87, Tulsa’s Martina Okalova at No. 89, SMU’s Jackie Nylander at No. 99, and UCF’s Evgeniya Levashova at No. 110.
 
The American has five doubles tandems ranked among the ITA’s top 90: UCF’s Rebeka Stolmar/Marie Mattel at No. 44, SMU’s Hadley Doyle/Jackie Nylander at No. 71, Houston’s Mimi Kendall-Woseley/Phonexay Chitdara at No. 75, Tulsa’s Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner at No. 77 and Memphis’ Sophie Abrams/Aran Teixido Garcia at No. 86.
 
 

2021 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
April 22-25 | USTA National Campus | Orlando, Florida
 

First Round | Thursday, April 22
No. 9 Temple (9-2) vs. No. 8 USF (7-14)	8:30 a.m.
No. 10 Cincinnati (6-9) vs. No. 7 Wichita State (10-15)	9 a.m.
Quarterfinals | Friday, April 23
No. 6 Memphis (6-13) vs. No. 3 Tulsa (13-6)	8:30 a.m.
Cincinnati/Wichita State winner vs. No. 2 SMU (20-9)	9 a.m.
No. 5 Houston (14-7) vs. No. 4 Tulane (13-8)	Noon
Temple/USF winner vs. No. 1 UCF (15-4)	12:30 p.m.
Semifinals | Saturday, April 24
Quarterfinal winners	10:30/11 a.m.
Quarterfinal winners	10:30/11 a.m.
Final | Sunday, April 25 | ESPN+
Semifinal winners	Noon

 
 
 
all times Eastern