Knights earn first at-large NCAA bid
The dramatic change of tide for UCF athletics programs under first-year coaches continues. John Roddick, brother of tennis star Andy Roddick, led the No. 31-ranked Knights to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005. The Knights also clinched the first at-large NCAA bid for any UCF team since the softball team received one in May 2016.
UCF will play No. 43 Louisville in Columbus, Ohio, on May 12 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I think our guys did a great job down the stretch and knew that an at-large bid was likely,” said Roddick, who was named UCF’s director of tennis in May 2016. “It was a matter of where we were going to go and we are excited to go to play a good team like Louisville.”
Florida, Florida State, Florida A&M and USF also earned tournament bids.
Roddick is one of six new coaches hired by UCF athletic director Danny White since December 2015. Most have immediately delivered improved results.
Before arriving at UCF, Roddick led the University of Oklahoma to three consecutive runner-up finishes at the NCAA tennis championships.
This season Roddick spearheaded a group that won 16 tournaments — the most since the 2003 season. The UCF men’s tennis team has defeated five top-30 programs this season: No. 23 Texas Tech, No. 29 South Alabama, No. 29 Florida State, No. 25 USF and No. 27 Tulane.
“We worked our way up in the rankings,” Roddick said. “After the first few weeks of the season we lost a match to Auburn, so we weren’t in a great position but we weren’t in a bad position. We talked about working our way through it and that’s what the guys did.”