The UCF Knights Men’s Tennis team is one of several teams that will be undergoing not just a change in conference, but a change in head coach as well.
As last year’s large crop of freshmen develop into sophomores, new head coach Lloyd Bruce-Burgess will lead them into competition against a deep Big 12 Conference.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Knights as they start their 2024 season:
How Dual-Match Tennis Works
The dual match begins with Doubles Play, in which there are three matches played between a pair of players from each team. Whichever school wins 2 out of the 3 Doubles matches gets 1 point.
After Doubles Play, six Singles Play matches are played between members of each school worth 1 point each.
The school with the most points after all the matches are played is the victor. However, it is not uncommon that the dual-match will end early once one team gets 4 points since it becomes mathematically impossible for the other team to come back.
11-12 (5-1 AAC); Lost in AAC Semifinal to Tulane, 4-3
Despite suffering back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2011-2012, the Knights rallied at the end. However, despite winning seven of their last nine matchups, UCF came just short of .500 and was thus ineligible for an NCAA Tournament bid.
It does give a young squad positive momentum going forward, though and Bogdan Pavel and Lleyton Cronje still cracked a bid for the NCAA Doubles Tournament.
Picked to finish tied for 6th in Big 12 Preseason Poll
The Knights remain a young squad, with all but one of their members being an underclassman. Throw in a sophomore transfer from UT Arlington that is already in a ranked doubles pair and UCF is poised to continue from where it left off at the end of last season.
The biggest question is will that positive momentum that was built from playing mostly AAC opponents translate to a new head coach and a Big 12 Conference schedule in which more than half the conference (five teams) made the NCAA Tournament last year?
Lloyd Bruce-Burgess – 3rd season at UCF (1st as Men’s Team Head Coach)
Courtesy of UCF Athletics
Women’s Tennis head coach Bryan Koniecko hired Bruce-Burgess as an assistant for the women’s team back in July 2021.
In his two seasons on the women’s team, he helped the team reach the NCAA Tournament twice and, per his UCF bio, helped Marie Mattel reach the NCAA Singles Championship twice.
With Koniecko’s promotion to Director of Tennis over the summer after John Roddick’s departure, he tabbed Bruce-Burgess to take over the men’s team.
Bruce-Burgess, originally from Brockenhurst, England, said coaching college tennis was the reason he decided to stay in the United States upon graduating from Fresno Pacific University. However, he had to spend the next six and a half years working a full-time job with Genesis Health Clubs to obtain a visa and acquire a green card.
Upon doing so in 2019, at the age of 31, Bruce-Burgess quit his full-time job to become a volunteer assistant coach at South Florida, his first collegiate coaching job. He also had a year-and-a-half stint as an assistant coach for Iowa before arriving in Orlando.
“I guess if you work hard, sometimes you get lucky and that’s what happened to me,” Bruce-Burgess said. “I can’t really express in words how happy I was to get the job. So, I’m thrilled to have it and excited to get started on the season.”
Watch our team preview video with Coach Bruce-Burgess here:
Lleyton Cronje
The native South African will take over as the new elder statesman of the team as its only upperclassman. He was named to the AAC’s All-Conference team in both Singles and Doubles Play. He also enters 2024 as one-half of the #20-ranked doubles pair in the nation.
Mehdi Benchakroun
Moroccan native Mehdi Benchakroun is entering the season ranked #95 in the nation in singles play. He went 9-10 in singles play in 2023.
Yassine Dlimi
While unranked by the ITA, last year’s AAC Freshman of the Year Yassine Dlimi broke out in his debut campaign in singles play, going 11-5. Since last season ended he also won a professional tournament in Casablanca, Morocco.
Bogdan Pavel
While mostly a standout doubles player, finishing his career with the most such wins in program history (73), Pavel broke out in singles play in 2023. He finished 13-5 in such matches, most of which were played on Court No. 1, where a team normally puts their best players.
Santiago Giamichelle
Transferring from UT Arlington, Giamichelle is the defending WAC Freshman of the Year. He was also selected to the First Team All-WAC in singles play and Second Team All-WAC in doubles play.
He went 14-6 in dual-match singles play and 14-8 in dual-match doubles play in 2023. He has already made an impression with the Knights as one-half of the #20 ranked doubles pair in the country alongside Lleyton Cronje.
- 8 Sophomores
- 1 Fifth-Year Senior
- 1 Floridian
- 8 International Players (Morocco, Spain, France, South Africa, Argentina, and Uruguay)
2024 UCF Men’s Tennis Roster
| Name | Year | Hometown | 2023 School | Spring 2023 Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Year | Hometown | 2023 School | Spring 2023 Stats |
| Walid Ahouda | Fr. | Casablanca, Morocco | N/A | |
| Mehdi Benchakroun | So. | Rabat, Morocco | UCF | Singles: 9-10, Doubles: 2-5 |
| Liam Branger | So. | Bordeaux, France | UCF | Singles: 10-8, Doubles: 1-11 |
| Paul Colin | So. | St. Barts, France | UCF | Singles: 0-5, Doubles: 5-8 |
| Lleyton Cronje | 5th | Pretoria, South Africa | UCF | Singles: 8-11, Doubles: 11-7 |
| Yassine Dlimi | So. | Casablanca, Morocco | UCF | Singles: 11-5, Doubles: 3-13 |
| Santiago Giamichelle | So. | Buenos Aires, Argentina | UT Arlington | Singles: 14-6, Doubles: 14-8 |
| Luca Hotze | So. | Miami Shores, FL | UCF | Singles: 1-2, Doubles: 1-3 |
| Francisco Llanes | So. | Paysandú, Uruguay | UCF | Singles: 4-11, Doubles: 5-6 |
| Emilio Sanchez | So. | Barcelona, Spain | UCF | Did not play in Spring |
| Simeon Terziev | Fr. | Sofia, Bulgaria | N/A |
UCF will be tested immediately with an NCAA Tournament team in UNC Wilmington at 10 a.m. to start the season and their second match hours later at 5 p.m. against Coastal Carolina. Following that trip, they will remain in the state of Florida for nine of their next 10 matches. Only one non-conference matchup is against a preseason Top 25 team, a Feb. 18 tilt with #23 Florida.
The Knights will bookend conference play with away matchups against Texas and TCU, ranked #3 and #4 in the Preseason Top 25, respectively. All three of their Big 12 road matchups are against Preseason Top 25 teams (Texas, TCU and Baylor), while only one Preseason Top 25 team (#22 Oklahoma) will visit the USTA National Campus during a four-match conference play home stand.
2024 UCF Men’s Tennis Schedule
| Date | Day | H/A | Time | Opponent | Preseason ITA Ranking | UCF’s Results LY | 2023 Record | Last Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Day | H/A | Time | Opponent | Preseason ITA Ranking | UCF’s Results LY | 2023 Record | Last Season |
| Monday | Jan. 15 | Away | 10 a.m. | UNC Wilmington | – | – | 17-8 | Lost in NCAA 1st Round to Duke |
| Monday | Jan. 15 | Away | 5 p.m. | Coastal Carolina | – | – | 10-13 | Lost in Sun Belt 1st Round to Southern Miss |
| Saturday | Jan. 20 | Home | 12 p.m. | North Florida | – | Win, 5-2 | 16-7 | Lost in ASUN Championship to FGCU |
| Saturday | Jan. 27 | Home | 12 p.m. | Georgia Southern | – | Win, 5-2 | 15-8 | Lost in Sun Belt Quarterfinals to Troy |
| Thursday | Feb. 8 | Home | 5 p.m. | Florida Atlantic | – | Win, 5-2 | 13-11 | Lost in CUSA Semifinals to UTSA |
| Sunday | Feb. 11 | Home | 12 p.m. | Miami (FL) | – | Lost, 4-0 | 15-10 | Lost in ACC Quarterfinals to Virginia |
| Saturday | Feb. 17 | Away | 12 p.m. | Stetson | – | – | 14-10 | Lost in ASUN Quarterfinals to FGCU |
| Sunday | Feb. 18 | Away | 3 p.m. | Florida | 23 | Lost, 6-1 | 14-14 | Lost in NCAA 1st Round to Oklahoma State |
| Sunday | Feb. 25 | Away | 1 p.m. | UAB | – | Win, 4-2 | 21-7 | Lost in CUSA Semifinals to Middle Tennessee State |
| Friday | Mar. 1 | Home | 5 p.m. | South Florida | – | 2 Wins, 4-3 and 4-3 | 12-13 | Lost in AAC Quarterfinals to UCF |
| Monday | Mar. 4 | Home | 10 a.m. | Penn | – | – | 13-9 | 3rd in Ivy League |
| Tuesday | Mar. 5 | Home | 12 p.m. | South Alabama | – | – | 17-8 | Lost in Sun Belt Championship to Old Dominion |
| Friday | Mar. 8 | Away | 1 p.m. | Wichita State | – | Win, 6-1 | 11-16 | Lost in AAC Quarterfinals to Tulane |
| Sunday | Mar. 10 | Away | 1 p.m. | Tulsa | – | Went 1-1, 1-4 and 4-2 | 11-13 | Lost in AAC Quarterfinals to SMU |
| Thursday | Mar. 14 | Home | 7 p.m. | Southern Miss | – | – | 8-15 | Lost in Sun Belt Quarterfinals to South Alabama |
| Friday | Mar. 22 | Away | 8 p.m. | Texas | 3 | Lost, 4-3 | 26-4 | Lost in NCAA Final Four to Virginia |
| Sunday | Mar. 24 | Away | 2 p.m. | Baylor | 25 | – | 17-16 | Lost in NCAA 1st Round to Florida State |
| Thursday | Mar. 28 | Home | 7 p.m. | Oklahoma State | – | Lost, 4-2 | 14-14 | Lost in NCAA 2nd Round to Arizona |
| Saturday | Mar. 30 | Home | 6 p.m. | Oklahoma | 22 | – | 15-12 | Lost in NCAA 2nd Round to Georgia |
| Thursday | Apr. 4 | Home | 6 p.m. | Texas Tech | – | – | 14-11 | Lost in NCAA 1st Round to Louisville |
| Saturday | Apr. 6 | Home | 6 p.m. | BYU | – | – | 6-16 | Lost in WCC Semifinals to to Pepperdine |
| Saturday | Apr. 13 | Away | 4 p.m. | TCU | 4 | – | 26-3 | Lost in NCAA Final Four to Ohio State |
Big 12 Conference Tournament
- Hosted by Oklahoma State at Greenwood Tennis Center
- Dates: April 19-21/22
UCF won a conference tournament: 2021. It was the first time the Knights won a conference tournament since the three-peat of 2003-05.
UCF had three consecutive losing seasons: Never. The closest it’s been was a stretch from 2011-2013 in which the Knights went 8-14,10-13 and 10-10.
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