ORLANDO, Fla. – Tournament Most Outstanding Player Evgeniya Levashova won a three-set decision at No. 3 singles to clinch UCF’s second consecutive American Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship with a 4-1 win against Tulsa in the tournament final Sunday afternoon on the indoor courts at the USTA National Campus.
 
The win sends UCF, which is ranked No. 8 nationally, to the 2021 NCAA Championship as the American Athletic Conference’s automatic entrant.
 
Levashova was chosen as the Most Outstanding Player after she scored a straight-set win against Houston in the semifinals Saturday before she closed out a 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory Sunday to end the final.
 
After UCF had claimed the doubles point in short order with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions Sunday, the Knights built a 2-0 lead when Rebeka Stolmar scored a 6-1, 6-0 victory at the No. 2 singles spot.
 
The other five singles courts all went to third sets. UCF’s Valeriya Zeleva, ranked No. 19 nationally in singles, won a showdown of ranked players at No. 1 as she rallied from a one-set deficit to take a 2-6, 6-2 6-3 win against No. 88 Martina Okalova, giving the Knights a 3-0 lead.
 
Tulsa needed all four remaining courts to get the win, and the Golden Hurricane picked up a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 decision from Lian Benedejcic at No. 6 to get on the board.
 
With tight battles at No. 4 and No. 5 that could have taken the match to the wire, Levashova ended Tulsa’s hopes at a comeback by serving out her win to end the match.
 
UCF will take a six-match winning streak into the NCAA tournament after the Knights took wins against USF, Houston and Tulsa in the conference tournament. The Knights became the first time since Tulsa (2015-16) to repeat as American Athletic Conference champion.
 
Tulsa, which was looking for its fourth American title, fell to 14-3 all-time in the conference tournament. The Golden Hurricane fell to 15-7 on the year.
 
 
 
2021 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
April 22-25 | USTA National Campus | Orlando, Florida
 

First Round | Thursday, April 22
No. 8 USF 4, No. 9 Cincinnati 1
Quarterfinals | Friday, April 23
No. 3 Tulsa 4, No. 6 Memphis 1
No. 2 SMU 4, No. 7 Wichita State 0
No. 5 Houston 4, No. 4 Tulane 2
No. 1 UCF 4, USF 1
Semifinals | Saturday, April 24
Tulsa 4, SMU 0
UCF 4, Houston 0
Final | Sunday, April 25 | ESPN+
UCF 4, Tulsa 1

 
 
 
MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER
Evgeniya Levashova, UCF