VALDOSTA, Ga. - The No. 9 West Florida men's tennis team (3-5, 2-0 GSC) defeated Gulf South Conference opponent Alabama-Huntsville (6-2, 2-2 GSC) 6-3 on Saturday, March 14 at Valdosta State. The Argonauts earned their third win over a Division II opponent and second over a GSC rival. A few hours after losing to Lynn, the Argonauts responded with a victory over the Chargers, dominating both singles and the doubles.

The Argonauts started strong in doubles by winning two out of three matches. In the third spot, Nathan Rosenfeld (freshman/Miami, Fla.) teamed with Jose Ycaza (senior/Guayaquil, Ecuador) to beat Kyle Smith and Andrew Alfonso 8-2. The Argonauts increased their lead over the Chargers when Andrey Pozhidaev (freshman/Sochi, Russia) teamed with Kevin Ducros (freshman/Aix-en-Provence, France) to beat Andres Buse and Daniel Canellas 8-4. The Chargers second duo formed Davyd Fowler and Andre Ipince defeated Argonauts Patrick Bateman (sophomore/Apopka, Fla.) and Luis Arboleda (senior/Medellin, Colombia) with a 9-7 score, to set the scoreboard at 2-1 for the Argonauts.

The Argonauts also dominated the singles play, as they won four of the six matches played. Playing in the first spot, Rosenfeld did not drop a game in his 6-0, 6-0 win over Buse. Leandro Schujman (sophomore/Porto Alegre, Brazil) only dropped two games in his win over Smith. Sean Gunnels (freshman/Mobile, Ala.) also defeated his opponent in straight sets. Gunnels beat Canellas  with a 6-3, 6-2 score to earn the fifth Argonaut point and secure the win for the West Florida squad. The Chargers earned the next two wins in the sixth and fourth spots. Playing No. 6 singles, Mallory Leighty (freshman/Lake City, Fla.) fell with a 7-5, 6-2 score to Michael Garcia. At the fourth singles spot, Mike Lue (freshman/Richmond Hills, Ontario) battled through a tough third set super tiebreaker, but dropped 6-4, 1-6, 12-10 to Fowler. The Argonauts’ sixth point was earned by Ycaza, who rallied from a set down to defeat 4-6, 7-5, 10-6 Ipince, and give the Argonauts the 6-3 win over the Chargers.

With the win, the Argonauts improved to a 3-5 overall record, while the Chargers dropped to a 6-2 record. West Florida will next play also GSC rival Valdosta State on Sunday, March 15 in Valdosta at 9:00 am. For information on all UWF Athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.