ORLANDO, Fla. — The doubles duo No. 32 Mariia Kozyreva and Hind Abdelouahid fought hard in the first round of the NCAA Doubles Championships on Tuesday, but fell short to Central Florida's No. 26 Valeriya Zeleva and Ksenia Kuznetsova with a final score of 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 10-6.

The match began with Zeleva and Kuznetsova taking a 4-1 lead in the first frame, but Kozyreva and Abdelouahid made a strong comeback as they went on to win the next four straight games to take a 5-4 lead. The first set went to a tiebreaker where Central Florida's tandem came out on top with a close 7-6 (7-4) win.

The Gaels carried their vigorous momentum into the second set as they led the Knights for the entire contest. Kozyreva and Abdelouahid put up a quick two points to start the match and would go on to take the 6-4 set victory, forcing a third set on Central Florida.

In the NCAA Doubles Championships, the third set is played as a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match. The Gaels' dynamic duo put up a hard fight during the contest, but were ultimately unable to overcome the Knights in the final 10-6 tiebreaker decision.

The loss for Kozyreva and Abdelouahid was just their second loss of the season as a doubles team. The sophomore's and the rest of the Gaels' talented roster will look to return to the courts in the fall for a strong 2019-20 season.