The University of Central Florida women’s tennis team, ranked No. 20 nationally, is set to begin its postseason run at the Big 12 Tournament this week at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, following their second consecutive regular-season conference title.
The Knights earned the No. 1 seed for the first time since joining the Big 12 ahead of the 2023-24 season and will open play Thursday in the quarterfinals after a first-round bye. Their opponent will be Brigham Young University (BYU), which advanced by defeating Utah in their opening match.
In their final weekend of regular-season play, UCF secured road victories over Cincinnati and West Virginia to finish with an impressive conference record of 11-2 and an overall mark of 18-3. The team also completed a perfect home season at 9-0 on their courts. Against West Virginia, key performances came from Jantje Tilbuerger and Marina Gatell in singles before Psonka clinched both the match and back-to-back Big 12 titles for UCF with a decisive win on court five.
Tilbuerger recently achieved her first individual ranking of the season at No. 115 after compiling a dual match record of 15-1, including a perfect streak on court two during regular-season play. Under head coach Bryan Koniecko, this marks the fourth time his squad has finished undefeated at home during regular season competition.
BYU enters as tournament’s nine seed after finishing conference play with a record of seven wins and six losses. Despite ending their regular season on a losing streak, BYU rebounded by overcoming Utah to reach the quarterfinals against UCF—a rematch from earlier this year when UCF won decisively at home.
Last year saw Koniecko’s team make history as they became UCF Athletics’ first program to secure a Big 12 Championship title; now they look to extend that legacy further as tournament action continues through April.
