VALDOSTA, Ga. - The No. 9 West Florida men's tennis team (2-5, 1-0 GSC) fell 8-1 to No. 3 Lynn (9-0) on Saturday, March 14 at Valdosta State. The Fighting Knights delivered the Argonauts’ fifth loss this season, and their third loss to a Division II opponent.
The Fighting Knights dominated the doubles action, winning all the matches. Andrey Pozhidaev (freshman/Sochi, Russia) and Nathan Rosenfeld (freshman/Miami, Fla.) dropped 8-1 to Julien Carsuzaa and Mislolav Navratil in the first spot. Argonauts Patrick Bateman (sophomore/Apopka, Fla.) and Luis Arboleda (senior/Medellin, Colombia) fell to the second duo from Lynn, formed by Alessandro Sarra and Luca Pavanelli by an 8-6 score. The third Argonaut duo formed by Kevin Ducros (freshman/Aix-en-Provence, France) and Sean Gunnels (freshman/Mobile, Ala.) also fell by an 8-6 score. Tomas Racak and Alex Voirin defeated the Argonauts to give the Fighting Knights the 3-0 lead entering the singles action.
The singles action was also dominated by Lynn, as the Argonauts only earned a win in the third spot. Pozhidaev earned the Argonauts lone point by defeating Miloslav Navratil with a 6-3, 7-6 score. In both the second and fourth spots, the Argonauts had a set lead, and ended up dropping the match. Bateman, led Sarra, and dropped 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the fourth spot. Arboleda won the first set, and dropped a match point in the second, being pushed to the third and decisive set. Racak earned the fifth point for Lynn after Arboleda retired due to an injury, when the score was 2-6, 7-6, 3-1. Ducros pushed Lynn’s first player to a third set, and dropped 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. Jose Ycaza (senior/Guayaquil, Ecuador) fell to Voirin with a 6-4, 6-0 score. Pavanelli defeated Rosenfeld 6-4, 6-2 to give the Fighting Knights the 8-1 final score over the Argonauts.
With the loss, the Argonauts drop to a 2-5 overall record, while the Fighting Knights improve to a 9-0 record. West Florida will next play GSC rival Alabama-Huntsville later this Saturday in Valdosta at 6:00 pm. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.
