The No. 15 men’s tennis team ended its season on May 8 after a 4-1 defeat against top-seeded Wake Forest in the Super Regional round in Winston-Salem. This marks the second consecutive year that the Knights have been eliminated by the reigning champions.
The match began with doubles play, where rookie pair Clement Lemire and Wissam Abderrahman lost their match on court three. On court one, seniors Yassine Dlimi and Paul Colin were locked in a close contest against Andrew Delgado and Dhakshineswar Suresh Ekambaram, ranked as the nation’s top doubles team, but their match was halted at 5-4 when Wake Forest clinched the doubles point.
Heading into singles down by one point, the Knights struggled to gain momentum. Four of six Wake Forest players held national rankings within the top-125. Nicolas Oliveira was defeated by Aryan Shah, while Abderrahman fell to Mees Rottgering, ranked No. 38 nationally.
Senior Yassine Dlimi provided a highlight for his team by defeating No. 27 Suresh Ekambaram in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) during his final college match at the No. 1 singles spot.
Despite this win, UCF could not turn things around as freshman Pedro Rodrigues lost to Lucas Pow (6-2, 6-3). At match completion, Paul Colin was mounting a comeback before play stopped (5-7, 4-1), while Lemire led his unfinished match on court six (7-5, 3-1).
The result concludes an impressive season for UCF men’s tennis and sets up expectations for next year as several underclassmen gained valuable experience from this postseason run.
