Thanks to some convenient scheduling, the men’s and women’s tennis teams will both face Central Florida on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
The Golden Knights will simply be happy to take the court again. The men’s squad had two matches postponed in Georgia last weekend because of inclement weather. They were supposed to take on Georgia State on Saturday and Georgia Southern on Sunday.
When UCF arrives in Coral Gables, it will be greeted by the No. 30 Hurricanes, who are coming off a decisive 6-1 win over No. 40 Temple. Top singles player Luigi D’Agord, a junior who transferred from Alabama, beat No. 36 Robert Searle in three sets, and No. 87 Josh Cohen dominated Ben Harknett in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in the second singles position to set the tone for the Hurricanes.
Veterans Eric Hechtman, Tim Krebs and John Hoyes are enjoying successful seasons for the 4-1 ‘Canes, whose only loss of the season was to Florida, the No. 1 team in the nation.
To beat the Golden Knights (3-1), Miami will have to contain the tandem of Sinan Sudas and Norman Alcantara, who play first and second singles respectively and team up for No. 1 doubles action. Sudas, a sophomore from Turkey who earned Atlantic Sun Freshman Team honors, won a gritty three-set match in UCF’s home opener against Texas-San Antonio. Alcantara was a straight-set winner at No. 2 singles.
Miami’s women’s squad is currently 3-3 after dropping a close 4-3 match to Florida on Sunday.
Despite the loss to the Gators, it was a good weekend for sophomore Audra Cohen, who was named the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Performer of the Week. After disposing of Florida International’s Paula Zabala in two sets and winning a doubles match with Melissa Applebaum on Friday, Cohen dominated Florida’s Diana Srebrovic, the No. 1 player in the country at the time, to finish the stretch 4-0.
The only other singles winner against Florida was Audrey Banada, who rallied from a 5-1 first set deficit to beat No. 63 Nina Suvak 7-6 (5), 6-3. The Hurricanes swept the doubles point in the loss.
Central Florida’s women are not as well-rested as the men’s team. The Golden Knights shut out Florida A&M on Sunday, losing only one game the entire match. The squad is led by top three singles players Elvira Serrot, Anna Yakimchenkova and Jennifer Carati.
UCF is 3-2, with its losses coming to Florida and South Florida.
Eric Kalis can be contacted at e.kalis@umiami.edu.